When our daughter was around three years old, we decided it was time to move from city-living to country-living.

After many long hours fixing up the place we had purchased, we finally moved in. Not long afterwards, we began to notice that gasoline and others things were mysteriously disappearing. We decided we needed a dog -- a German Shepherd.

A few days later, my husband came home from work and told us that someone he worked with knew a family who had a German Shepherd, that was one year old. They were going to have her put to sleep if someone did not take her. When I heard the words "put to sleep", I knew this was going to be our dog.

Two days later, Ginger came to live with us. I don't know what she had been named previously, but for us it was Ginger. I was appalled at the sight I saw. The dog had been beaten and neglected. She was so thin and gaunt I almost cried. Needless to say, she growled and backed up if we came close to her. We kept her on a long chain hoping to gain her trust quickly. We had warned our daughter repeatedly not to go near the dog until she accepted us as her family. We put plenty of food out for her and gradually she began to put on a little weight.

One Saturday, several weeks later, we had been working outside since early morning and we stopped to have a bite to eat. While I fixed sandwiches, my husband and daughter washed up. I had everything just about ready and my husband offered to help finish.

When we turned around, the plate of sandwiches was gone and so was our daughter. My heart dropped to my feet. I knew where she had gone.

She was so taken with the dog, she found any excuse to be outside close to her. We ran around to the corner of the house, where the dog was tied, and there, sitting with her arm around the dog's neck, was our daughter and her plate of sandwiches -- sharing them with Ginger, bite for bite.

Needless to say, Ginger was our dog from that day forward and she was ready to do anything she could to please.

What impressed me most about this dog was her motherly instincts. She was better than any babysitter I could ever hope to have. Ginger made sure that our daughter never got close to the road -- wherever she went, the dog was with her. Once, a snake was by the swing set while we worked in the flower beds nearby. Ginger began barking, then dragged our daughter safely away.

Ginger stayed with us for a lot of years. I have story after story of how she protected and loved our family. She moved with us several times and always remained on duty. That was her life.

It was Halloween the day before she died. I knew she wasn't feeling well. I petted her and talked to her and she only looked at me as if to say it was all right. That night, with all the normal mischief going on, she was up making her rounds. No one was going to cause any harm to her house. I guess that night took all the energy she had. When we awoke the next morning, she was asleep next to the fence -- forever asleep.

We have had several dogs since, but none will every take her place. She was the most special animal I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

Copyright © Joyce Rone
May 16, 2001