I'll never forget the first time I laid eyes on her.

A tiny, misbegotten critter with sad eyes, matted fur, and burn marks on her body.  It was clearly obvious that she had been abused.

Once someone's pride and joy, the Pomeranian pup had since been cruelly mistreated.  Either her owners got tired of her, or else some kids decided to torture her for their sick idea of fun.  In any event, the puppy was in pretty rough shape when she was brought to our office by a concerned volunteer who'd found her by a trash recepticle.

We doctored her wounds, cleaned out the pus, tended to her burns.  It tore at our hearts when she didn't make as much of a whimper; we know she had to be in some serious pain; yet she never made a sound.  She just looked at us with hope and fear in her large, almond-shaped dark eyes.

We decided that once she was well enough, the puppy (whom, by now, we'd christened "Puppy-Kins") would be our clinic mascot.  She definitely needed a lot of tender loving care, not to mention, love.  We had to teach her and show her that not all human beings were evil monsters.

It broke our hearts to think that a beautiful little dog could be treated so maliciously.  What did the creature possibly do to warrent such a horrendous fate?  It made us good and angry; some of the staff wanted nothing more than to find those who abused her and give them the same treatment they meted out on this little canine.

All we could do at the present time was give her the medical care she needed and pray she survived the ordeal.  And hope that whoever did this to her would be severely punished and charged with cruelty to a poor, helpless and defenseless little animal.

*End of part one*