Hello Reba Nell!

It’s Darling Daughter’s Rescue to the rescue again, and this time the rescue ended up at my house. What!?! Yep. New critter has moved in with me. What am I thinking? Darling Daughter has never passed up the chance to rescue a critter in need. This has ranged from baby opossums to full-grown horses wandering down the highway. Baby possums were dutifully delivered to a licensed wildlife rehabilitator. I say that to keep Darling Daughter out of jail, or at least from being cited by a game ranger for harboring a wild animal. But she kept up with baby possums, reporting on them until they were released into the wild once more.

Horses wandering down the highway, or just standing around needing help, have never dissuaded Darling Daughter from jumping right in there to do her rescue thing. She’ll even pay for a horse if she thinks it needs to be rescued. This has resulted in several new horses in our respective pastures. And, to tell the truth, some of those horses were pretty good rides, and should never have been in need in the first place.

Of course dogs and cats are the most rescued, since they seem to be the most in need, and not spayed and neutered as they should be. But in this case, it was on behalf of a friend who needed a dog rescued. Dog, who is known as Reba, had just been abandoned by a new owner. Old owner, now living far away, found out and called my Darling Daughter for assistance. Well, that only took about five minutes. And the next thing I knew Darling Daughter is in my driveway demanding I “Come out here right now.” All righty. And that’s how I got introduced to Reba. I like the name Reba. Probably because I like Reba McEntire. Just looked the singer up to make sure I spelled her name right. Found out her name is Reba Nell. Dog will now be Reba Nell.

So here comes Reba Nell, my new critter who looks like a black lab cross, and has that same attitude. That means Reba Nell thinks she gets to lay around and do nothing, sort of like me. That figures. In her dog years, I think we’re about the same age. Reba Nell wasn’t too trusting of me at first. Who could blame her? She figured she had been abandoned twice, why bother getting involved again? Several cans of dog food later, she changed her mind and began to wag her tail at me. That was a relief. Reba has been spayed. That was pretty much the “yes” moment.

“She’s spayed?

 “Yes.”

“OK.”

So Reba Nell was secured in the back room, until a proper collar and leash could be obtained, until all ticks and fleas could be removed, until she and house dog Penny were introduced and agreed to a conflict-free relationship, and until she realized she had a new home. I checked on her several times during the night. Those sad eyes simply stared back. Reba Nell continued her abandoned dog attitude until I showed up the next morning with another can of dog food. Suddenly, we were best friends. I tried to convince Reba Nell she could go out into the back yard to relieve herself. She wouldn’t go. A bit later, after Reba’s breakfast, I tried again. This time Reba took off like a shot, meaning, at her age, she meandered slowly out the door and took a while to find the exact right spot to relieve herself. And relieve herself. And relieve herself. We’ve got to praise Reba Nell. She held on all night long! Then she wandered off. Hum. I went to truck to load up in preparation for the trip to town. Don’t know how the old dog did it, but when I looked down, Reba Nell was already in the truck. Aha. This is a real country dog. Had to convince her she couldn’t come to town with me, but had to get a short little Penny dog leash to tie around Reba Nell’s neck to entice her back to the house.

Entice? Not really. She dragged me all the way back to the back door, and was more than happy to go back into that back room, out of the wind and rain, and where all that dog food awaited. I got a feeling Reba Nell and I are going to get along fine. I got that feeling cause she and I have the same attitude – feed me, keep me warm, and let me out in the yard once a day, and we’ll be happy.