One cold winters night I was driving home over a mountain pass in the pouring rain, when I noticed a little dog running in the road. I stopped and opened my door and in she jumped. Bedraggled, with a mop of knotted ditty wet hair.

The poor little thing looked totally un-cared for.  So, she joined our every growing family. Over time her quiet little personality started changing.  She learnt to play with the other dogs and established her pecking order.

She was the sweetest little thing, but she’d also picked up a few survival tactics that we were soon to discover. Like the sugar bowl on our dinning room table that had to be regularly topped up or the whole cooked chickens she stole off the kitchen counter.  

She was an adoption that tested our love to the limit. She also suffered from abandonment fears.  Always finding a way to get out of the property and chase our car halfway down the road every time we went anywhere.

But we held on, watching her personality develop and change. My son named her La Queena, and there were many times we re-christened her has “La Bitch” She had a mind of her own.

She was the smallest dog of the pack and became the alpha female. An alpha that saved the lives of her friends.

The call came in on my cell phone from a neighbor, who was distraught. “Your dog La Queena has been attacked, there was a terrible fight and she’s lying in the driveway covered in blood and she looks dead” she cried. I dropped everything and dashed home. Expecting to find her lying there, but she was gone. Calling the other dogs who were totally unharmed but shaken up, we searched our property under every bush but she was nowhere to be found. We phoned all the vets in the area, nothing. A few hours later a neighbor up the road bought her back still covered in blood. She’d found her on her property. Fortunately, after a vet check-up, we discovered she didn’t have any serious injuries.  

The story goes:  That afternoon while I was out another neighbor’s dog had gotten through the fencing and run up our pan handle.  He was new to the neighborhood and not integrated with other animals. Our beloved male jack Russel and new Labrador puppy and our little rescue La Queena were the only one’s home. If the dog had attacked the other dog’s they might not have come out so lightly or even survived.  

Little La Queena took it upon herself to protect her family to the death. She fought with all her might. She was shaken around like a rag doll, covered in blood until she either passed out or faked her own death, saving the lives of her friends. It’s a miracle she survived this attack.

 Today she never leaves my side and that’s ok because she’s part of the family. Perhaps her fear of abandonment will near leave her because who knows what she went through in her past life. But for us she will always have a special place in our hearts, naught and all.