SCORE: Winning the dog lottery

The beautiful cinnamon dog was abandoned on my neighbor’s property recently. Her wild mascara eyes looked at me in flight. My neighbor is 85 years old and asked me for help.

I called my sister, who was visiting me and is a lover of animals, to assist. We tried to get the flighty dog to come, but she was too scared. My neighborhood is notorious for animal drop-offs, as it is a cul-de-sac. We were not successful.

At 6 a.m. I was up and the dog was running through the yard she was enclosed in. My sister Catherine was asleep and I ran into the house to wake her up. If anyone could get this dog to safety, it would be she.

She arose and said, “I will try to help this dog, but Beth, she might not want our help.”

As the morning sun beat down upon my sister as she took sandwich meat and water to the beautiful dog that was now hiding under the neighbor’s grape vine, I saw love in a greater dimension. She crawled on her hands and knees to bring kindness to this dog. She laid in brambles and dirt and spiders to coax the cinnamon dog to her. It took her 45 minutes, but in the end she had the dog.

And $75 later, with evidence of problems, the vet said, “Your love gave life to this dog. She just won the Dog Lottery!” She named her Annabelle.

BETH PIETLICKI

Coeur d’Alene