Tess

My beloved Tess, sadly laid to rest in September 2003. We rescued her from an animal shelter in 1987. Her Mother had been found in a ditch, badly beaten and heavily pregnant. Tess and her siblings were born at the shelter, her Mother dying soon afterwards. Tess could not tell her story but we quickly discovered that she cowered in fear at the sound of a chain, and she was terrified of men. One day we met Tess's brother on a return visit to the shelter and learned from his owner that they had just the same experiences. It was a slow and patient task to get her to the point of being able to play, especially to enjoy a bit of rough and tumble. Sometimes, if I overstepped the mark, she would suddenly back away and cower. Only Tess's Mother knows what pain they all endured ... oh, and of course the **** who inflicted it.