Before ‘Marley and Me,’ There Was Nina and Me
Nina wasn’t even supposed to be my dog, not really. It was 2000 and my grandfather, who had living at my house his last few years, had just passed away. My black Lab Snuffy, always a social animal, was despondent. As his depression dragged on I realized I needed to get him a companion.
I fell in love with Nina the first moment I saw her at the shelter. She was a beautiful shepherd / beagle mix with huge brown eyes ringed with black, as if she’d had eyeliner tattooed on. She leaned up against the cage, stared at me, and gave me her “I’m so abused and pathetic” look that I later came to know so well. It was all part of her schtick, though I didn’t know it at the time.
Nina had been returned to the shelter a couple of times and I knew she was at risk of being put down, so I agreed to foster her for a while. That foster care placement became permanent by the time we’d gotten home.
Though she was six months old, she hadn’t been housebroken yet. She knew no commands. Most troubling, she had the strongest escape tendencies of any dog I’ve ever seen.
Nina was a Houdini dog. She could escape out of any enclosure ever made. If she wanted to go somewhere, she would not be deterred. She would eat through doors and…
