After months of making friends with, although never coming to fully trust, the people in her neighborhood, the stray little girl settled in under the house across the street from Stephenson and gave birth to five babies. And cautiously she began accepting food from the people whose home she was under and from myself. A few weeks later, she began to cautiously come up to us and let us pet her, actually enjoying the human contact and praises of what a good mother and girl she was. Getting this close led Stephenson to discover that the little mom had no teeth in the front. Some stories cannot reach happy endings, in spite of the best efforts of caring people.
Some stories are about animals whose lives have been too damaged to be turned around.
After this little dog accidentally broke the skin of Stephenson's hand during a feeding, she was taken, with her pups, to a local veterinarian's office. Mom needed to be quarantined and observed for rabies. She was spayed and her pups were vaccinated and socialized. When quarantine was over, Stephenson brought them home. She soon learned that the adult female, a survivor of neglect and probably meanness, could not find a way to adjust to life in a home.