Our friends told us a stray kept coming around their house. She looked very skinny and unkept but had such a sweet face. They already had a dog and didn't need another one. We went by their house to see if she showed up. Sure enough, there she was. She was dirty and looked like she had mange around her ears. She looked like a little fox. There was something about her face, her eyes in particular. So sweet . . . even though from her actions, we could tell she had probably been mistreated in the past. Falling in love and feeling so sorry for her, we picked her up and took her home. She was used to being outside, so it was no problem her being an outside dog. We decided to name her Lady and took her to the vet. They treated her fur for mange, gave her shots and told us she was probably around 7 months old. She was a mix of shepherd, collie, etc. She had golden\brown hair with white mixed in. When she got a little older, we had her fixed. As lady grew, her fur became longer and beautiful. When we would take her for a walk, she would fluff her tail up and act so proud to be with her owners. She was such a loyal, sweet dog and everyones friend. Both our parents live in our neighborhood. Lady would visit them each day and get her "treat" from them. She was "their" dog too and they loved her as much as we did. Lady was very protective over children. We had several foster children through the years and never had to worry about Lady being mean or hurting them. Her only fault would be jumping on them trying to give them love. We had her over 10 years. Our son was 10 and our daughter was 5 when we got her. She helped raise our kids and provided hours of fun and entertainment for them. Today we had to bury her and with tears in our eyes and hearts of gratitude for such a wonderful dog, we wished her our last good-byes. When we took her to the vet yesterday, we knew something was bad wrong with her but never dreamed it would be her last day. When the vet called that afternoon and said there was no hope, we felt so helpless that we could not save our wonderful friend. I just want to say "Thank You" to her for her unconditional love to us. We did not deserve her. Lady, we'll never forget you and will always love you. Our hope is, that one day we will get to see you again in heaven, where we'll pet and hug you forever.