Not Your Typical Puppy
From Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Dog's Life
By Andrea Peebles

Any glimpse into the life of an animal quickens our own and makes it so much the larger and better in every way.
~John Muir

Upon returning from a week's vacation we found our two-year-old Doberman Pinscher sitting outside his doghouse growling. When I looked inside I saw the ugliest puppy that I had ever seen. She was scrawny, bloated and wormy, with mangy sprigs of wiry rust-colored fur that stuck straight up all over. Though she looked to be no more than six or eight weeks old, when I reached in to pull her out she snarled and snapped like a badger. I assumed abuse and neglect were to blame for her bad attitude. I decided to feed her and leave her alone, and when she calmed down she would come out on her own.

Three days later she was still cowering in the back corner of the doghouse, so I decided to try again so I could bring her to the vet. Slowly I pulled her out, but as soon as I started to lift her up she snarled and snapped again. I put a towel over her and picked her up. At the vet's office, I warned them that even though she was small and frail she was a Tasmanian devil in disguise. They gave her the first dose of treatment for worms and mange, and sent a second and third dose home with me. As she began to feel better and calm down, I managed, without losing any fingers, to slip a small collar around her neck. (Keep reading)