This is Porche Noel, formerly a hyper street dog, walking with a limp, food-aggressive and generally frantic and zany. And afraid. Afraid even to look a human in the eye.
As you may suspect from this photograph, she is no longer afraid to look a human in the eye.
She has earned the spotlight of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap because she is a good girl. I don’t know what she’s dreaming, but her left ear usually hangs at about half-staff. This photo makes her look alert -- which she wasn’t when I snapped the go button.
Ive told this story before, but combine it with the photo and you’ll see how a wander-up dog can become an ideal household companion.She got her name because we found her on our front porch at Christmas. She was so thin she could squeeze through the bars on the gate. She ate the entire feral cat buffet. Then she too thick to get back through the bars. She couldn’t escape the threatening humans. She was wild-eyed and looney. Terrified.
We kept her. It wasn’t easy at first. She believed she was going to be struck or kicked. Nowadays I am able to snap this photo because she sleeps between the humans every night. She’s also a lap dog and happy to romp, happy to snooze. She weighs in at around 40 pounds but plays like she’s 280 or 290 and about to be drafted by an NFL team that needs a relentless defensive lineman.
She’s not perfect. She likes to stand and bark at the cats -- she's playing, the cats aren't -- the cats glare at her and, now and then, slap a big scratch on her nose. She likes to rough-house with the big dogs. She’s enthusiastic about it. They may not always be.
But when she’s asleep, she is an angel. She’s a comfort. And when you look at her and see the history, too, you have to marvel at the forgiveness gene in dogs.
[We need photos of dozing animals for our world-wide-read weekend feature. To nominate your slumbering critter for the spotlight of Let Sleeping Dogs Lie & Napping Cats Nap, send photo and info to dallrp@aol.com. Porche demonstrates that eventually even the most desperate among us can get a good night’s sleep. It helps if you have someone who’ll reach over and pet you now and then. Or lick your face when it’s time to get up and serve breakfast.]
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