I looked at all the caged animals in the shelter...the cast-offs of human society. I saw in their eyes love and hope, fear and dread, sadness and betrayal. And I was angry. "God," I said, "this is terrible! Why don't you do something?" God was silent for a moment and then He spoke softly. "I have done something," He replied. "I created YOU." Jim Willis, Author

Craig and I met Penny when we met Princess. They were best buddies; both had been rescued by the same rescuer. She had been badly abused and thought to be a breeding dog. She was a pure bred Beagle, guessimated to be three years old, with the softest, most velvety ears I've ever felt on a dog.
She had been found abandoned in the woods by a couple of hunters, dirty and half-starved, with a ragged collar that was embedded in her neck, and hugely pregnant. They took her to the pound in Shreveport where she was cleaned up and nursed back to fairly decent health by the time all her pups had been adopted, then put on Death Row since she wasn't. The rescuer pulled her off the day she was to be euthanized. The rescuer's little elderly mother named her Penny.
I fell in love with her the minute I saw her. While Craig and Prin were made for each other, Penny was mine and seldom was far from me. Wherever I was, whether inside or out, she tagged right along. Both dogs would run to us respectively when we returned home from work or any time spent away from home.
We weren't able to adopt her immediately after Prin. She had a couple of medical issues that the rescuer wanted to make sure were resolved before she adopted her out. But she promised we would be the first she called, probably in February following the December we adopted Prin. I called every two weeks to see how she was. When February came and went with no mention that Penny was coming to her forever home, I began to panic. Finally the day arrived, March 12, three months to the day after Prin's adoption. We used her adoption date as her birthday; in fact, we do this to all the pets we adopt and throw them little birthday parties each year. I was beside myself with excitement the entire day until she could get here.
We chose to keep her name since Penny responded to the name so well. We nicknamed her Mink-Mo though I can't recall now why or how that name came about.
As with Prin, Penny came with a huge adoption package. Sherri made sure that everything she'd given us for Princess, Penny got as well.
Princess' and Penny's reunion was a sight to behold. They romped for hours. We had to make them go to bed that night.
Penny had an absolute terror of loud noises and thunder. She would tremble uncontrollably for minutes on end until all had completely calmed down. She was otherwise a calm and usually an extremely well-behaved little girl. Her tail was almost in a perpetual wag.
Oh my, but did she love to dig! We knew our fence and yard were secure before we'd adopted Prin. She'd dig and dig beneath the cyclone fence and off down the street she would go. She did this for nearly three years. One day she stopped digging out. We were so thankful!
Every morning and evening after finishing her business, she made at least one lap around the entire yard. We laughingly would say, "Penny's making her rounds."
She loved the kittens and cats we brought in. She'd nap and play with them. However, she was forever trying to get into their food bowls when we fed the cats, so we always would crate both dogs while the cats ate. Once she managed to open the pantry door while we were at work, drag out an unopened forty pound bag of cat food and ate the entire bag before we got home. She was so sick, miserably sick. Off to the emergency vet she went to get her tummy pumped. We changed the pantry door handle to a knob type. That settled that.
Both dogs knew that their crates were their safe haven. When they got tired of playing with each other and the cats or tagging along after us, they would take at least one nap a day in them. Never did they try to get into each others crate. Their crate was theirs and only theirs.
When we brought Puglena into our brood, Penny was delighted. She and Pugs were truly pals and the biggest partners in crime. If one was doing something naughty, you could bet the other was involved, as well.
Penny had a cicada fetish. She would dig them out of the ground while they were still underground nymphs and eat them. It always bothered me endlessly each July and August when they transformed from nymphs into cicadas. I would hear their distinct distress call and knew that she had one in her mouth. She's the only dog I've ever known that loved cicadas as a tasty snicksnack.
She grieved for Prin when we lost her the fall of 2008. She didn't come out of her depressed state until after Christmas. She and Pugs became closer than ever, the bestest of buds.
By the winter of 2010, Penny was slowing down. Her little muzzle was entirely gray and she was having trouble seeing and hearing well. On the mild morning of October 30, 2011 I heard her attempting to go down the steps of the front porch. I made her go inside, but she kept going to the door whimpering to go back out. Once out, she lay at the foot of the steps as Craig and I drank our coffee. She didn't appear to want back in, so we eventually went inside. She would stay outdoors for hours on end when we'd let her.
When it was time to feed her and Puglena their supper, I went to the door and called her. She was still at the foot of the porch steps basking in the late afternoon sunlight. Thinking she couldn't hear me, I went down to pick her up and screamed to Craig that our little girl had gone to the Bridge. I was almost of no use to Craig as we prepared her burial. She's in the back yard, next to her two pals, Princess and Puglena. I will always miss my sweet little Penny-Benny. ❤

Light of Life
As the light of life grows dim,
And I slowly slip away,
I hear my loved ones crying,
Wishing for one more day.

With my last breath of life,
I look around and see,
My toys and bones and things,
That meant so much to me.

For just one fleeting moment,
I remember back in time,
When I was just a puppy,
And all the world was mine.

Although the light of life grows dim,
And I slowly slip away,
I am surrounded by the love I've known,
Each and every day.

We'll be together one day,
And now I know just why,
Although the light of life has dimmed,
Love can never die.
Carol Kufner, Author