Story submitted 2011-03-17

(?1997-Nov. 27 2008)

Who would have guessed that the meek little creature we brought home from her foster family in January, 2001, still recovering from surgery to amputate one of her hind legs and badly in need of dental care, would turn into our Ginger? Was this the same dog who, two summers later, tried to throw herself into the Grand Canyon in pursuit of a rodent and scaled a cliff on the California coast (also in pursuit of a rodent)? When Ginger wasn't hunting prey, she was hunting snacks -- chicken bones on the street, scraps from our dining table, smoked salmon in her grandmother's New York kitchen, and even an entire piece of pizza on the floor of a university classroom. Badly treated as she was in her early life, Ginger managed to live, and love, with a joy and a gusto that we should all hope to have. We will miss her joyous little dance (her "boogie"), her (constant) licking, her assertive bark, her coy way of rolling onto her back for belly rubs that could easily last an hour or more. Ginger: thank you for our eight years together; they were unforgettable.

Jessica Wolfe & Reid Barbour, and "doxie" sister Tillie, also adopted through DRNA in January 2001