Puppy Love - Literally

Nine years ago we got a therapy dog, well not really "therapy dog" but a dog to provide therapy to all of us through a rough time. We were preparing our munchkins for their first experience of death of a loved one, grandpa.
After several trips to the local animal shelter we found a dog that appeared to need us as much as we needed her. She was three months old, sitting quietly in the corner of a cage with 3 other loudly barking dogs, her big, sad brown eyes ripped at my heart strings and I was sunk. I had to have her, of course it didn't take much convincing of the rest of the family. So after signing a dozen papers, promising to care for this furry little creature and treat her like one of the family, we took our black shaking bundle of fur home and named her Liberty (we got her on the 4th of July weekend), Libby for short.
We soon discovered that treating her like one of the family means different things to different folks. At a slight 3 months old our loving bundle of fur had already experienced severe abuse. Anyone that can abuse a defenseless creature should be required to endure like abuse themselves.
They say that with enough love and attention dogs will eventually forget the abuse, well that is not entirely true. The obvious realities of her abuse show rather frequently when approached by strangers, especially male strangers and particularly little boy male strangers. That pretty much sums up at whose hands the abuse was a result.
We all do love our 30 pound Border Collie/Sheltie mix furry friend, and she has more than tripled the hope of therapy we ever imagined possible. Her temperament is still very standoffish to men and especially boys. This is when parents really must teach their children NOT to run up to animals they do not know and always ask before petting an animal.
Our sweet Libby is VERY protective of her family and this was never more obvious than when C brought her new beau home to meet the family. Every time that poor man wanted to give our C a hug or kiss, Libby would literally get in between the two of them and start to bark. Needless to say there was not a lot of kissing or hugging going on in this house that weekend. Libby is better that dad with a shotgun. LOL.