My beautiful Vida, stunning inside and out, she was the first dog we ever fostered. I thought with 5 dogs I couldn't take on another but I couldn't bear to see her tied up like that. She was tiny, about 3-4 months and covered in mange. With Vida I learnt about giving meds and being punctual. A week later we found out she also had erlichia, s it was a switch in meds given 3 times a day. We made it a 'family' thing. I'd crush her pill, add some paté and put it on some bread. Then all the dogs would come and everyone got a small piece of bread with paté, and Vida would get her meds.

Then we brought 2 week old kittens into the house and all of the dogs were concerned. Scruffy climbed the steps and watched from the back of the crowd, Vida got into the little box and growled at everyone else to leave her kittens alone.

Vida and Chloe co-parented for the next few weeks until the kittens were old enough to eat on their own. Vida was the perfect mom, cleaning them and keeping them warm, hardly leaving them, not even to eat. It was then that I decided that I wanted to adopt Vida.

Then we started dog training. Vida was an incredible student, she learnt the fastest and enjoyed the training. She potty trained herself as well. One of Vida's most incredible traits is that she doesn't jump. She sits. She sits patiently shifting her weight from foot to foot. Vida doesn't bark or harass anyone, she doesn't chase cats or cause fights. She did however realise that she could clear a 5 foot fence and she would go out every day and sit in the empty lot next door under the lemon tree or out in the front herding people away from the house.

One day Vida saw a HUGE German shepherd come into the empty lot and she tried to herd him out but he wasn't taking the hint. She bit his ankle and his yelp set off the rest of the dogs who with their combined force crashed the back gate down and set off in hot pursuit. Even Paz who never leaves the house was going to allow Vida to be disrespected.

Vida used to sleep on my bed on my pillow with her snout buried in my neck or nestled against my cheek, as we started getting more and more dogs who couldn't sleep in my room she started to prefer to sleep with the others. She normally chooses the best spot and guards it.

One day Vida got poisoned. There was no foam at the mouth so I am convinced she ate the frog or perhaps a tadpole. Wolfie noticed that she had already started convulsing. I thought she had been bitten or stung at first and removed her collar until I noticed it for what it was and called for crushed carbon and milk. I held her tight and knew she was dying and I needed to do something. We rushed her to the vet and as she lay down I had my hand on her chest and her heart was slowly down a lot and all I could do was whisper 'hurry' as the vet and her sister set up her drip and gave her the anti dote to 2 poisons, something to speed up the heart and a tranquliser to stop the convulsions. We stayed with her at the clinic for 5 hours and for the next 24 hours someone was watching her every second of the day. She made a full recovery once again giving meaning to her name.