The shy 5 year old texan shelter dog who never stopped loving her young pawrent, through all the growing pains of life, sticking by her side with grace and: ‘perfect eyeliner like Michelle Pfieffer.’

Author image for Laurent Shinar
Laurent Shinar • Writer and Editor
Dec 26, 2025 2:00 PM EST

The connections that we make with our puppers are truly second to none. On those long walks, those quiet evenings, not much has to be said, nor does much have to happen, but a bond is slowly created. It deepens and becomes ever more refined with each moment like that, and before you know it you share an unspoken connection that knows no limits. And today we are lucky enough to be sharing with you a story of just such a bond, built from the ground up with a pupper who had been given up on by her previous family and a pawrent who had spent so much of her life waiting to find her doggo love. Together they went through trials and tribulations, ups and downs, and slowly but surely built up that bond that was missing for both of them.

And even in the times when they were apart, and even in the times when they lost touch, their love remained ever close and cozy. Because once that bond is created, there is very little that can break it, so long as it is not given up on. So as many of you welcome puppers for the festive season, let this story serve as a reminder of what you are getting in to, and that you are now responsible for the deep loving soul of a doggo.

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    "She saw me through a few break ups, a few 'move outs' and 'move back ins', and several jobs"
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    San Antonio, TX - Circa somewhere around 2005. Visited the animal shelter to partially k l time, partially see if they had any job openings. They
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    didn't. I was about 18 or 19, and had no clue what I was doing with my life, but I loved animals. So, I peeked at all of the dogs. One by one, I smiled at them, let them lick my
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    hand, scratched an ear or a neck. One was in the corner, curled up and facing away from the front of the kennel. I clicked my tongue and she
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    slowly cast me a wary eye. After studying me for a bit, she languidly stretched though stayed put. Some sort of collie x golden retriever mix.
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    About that time, one of the staff members asked if I'd like to take out a dog for a walk. Without thinking, I said yes, and nodded to the
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  • Honestly, what is it with us hoomans and our need to gain approval and attention from those who are least willing to give it to us? It happens in our hooman relationships so much so that we came up with the term ‘playing hard to get’. And here we are applying the same toxic behavior to our darling doggos. It is a dangerous precedent to set if you ask us, but we cannot deny that it does make the love that comes after that much sweeter. 

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    dog in the kennel. She flinched at the movement in front of her kennel and scooted back a bit. When the attendant let
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    herself into her kennel ( her nameplate said "Corina" and she was about 5 years old), I could seriously see the inner confusion. Her tail thumped once, and she
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    dipped away from an outstretched hand. Another thump of her tail, and she gave into the soft cooing of the staff member. The
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    Cheezburger Image 10590898944
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    leash hooked around her neck and she jolted but didn't move. I remember hesitantly wondering if I should even do this - this dog
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    was timid and did not appear to want to go out for a walk. But I didn't want to seem unsure: I had just asked to work there! So I held fast, as
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  • Wow, this is one talented doggo to be playing hard to get to these lengths is simply a skill that has to be honed over time. Though that being said, we might have been quick to judge earlier. A doggo who finds itself in a shelter at the relatively middle age of 5 years old likely has suffered through some emotional damage. Could you imagine being ditched by your family aged 40 years old? It would most certainly bite the biscuit. 

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    again, the staff member had to coax Corina out of her kennel. When she hit the pavement outside of her concrete floor, she scattered.
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    She bolted forward and her tail went WILD. She hit the end of her leash and gagged, but retraced her steps
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    backwards towards both of us and looked back at me almost expectantly. Her ears were up, I hadn't even realized her ears perked up like they
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    did, albeit a bit haphazardly. She was panting, looking intensely alert and ready to take off. I walk- jogged her to the area where I could let her off leash. Once
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    she felt the grass beneath her feet she pranced, tail swaying, and bounced at my side, giving me excited whines. Once in the enclosure, I let her off leash.
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    WOOSH! She was GONE. Lightning quick away from me, to the other side of the fence, rounded the corner and came back only to repeat herself once,
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    twice. By the time she had worn herself out, she came back to me, mouth agape, tongue lolling, and happy as could be. When I cooed at her,
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    she shut her mouth almost entirely and side-eyed me happily, her cheeks puffing with each breath. When I didn't break
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    Cheezburger Image 10590898688
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    her stare, she broke it herself and leaped into a play bow at my feet. To cut a long story short: I adopted that dog the very next day. I took
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    her home with me, I renamed her Jersey, and I let her live out some of the best days she'd ever lived at my childhood home. She was an amazing dog, she had a
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    sassy attitude and she loved chin scratches. Her eyeliner was perfect and she looked like Michelle Pfieffer. She hunted squirrels, napped in the
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    sun, wiggle- waggled when I came home, and puffed her cheeks when she was excited. She saw me through a few break ups, a few "move outs" and
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    "move back ins", and several jobs while I found my place in the working field, and even though she became my parents' dog when I initially
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    moved to the city, she was always ready to greet me with "genuflecting" as my mom put it. She ruled the roost. Queen Jers. My Jersey. Girl.
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    I had to say goodbye to her in late 2015. Her body wasn't working like it should: organs were failing, and she was in pain when she moved. It was time. She was
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    Cheezburger Image 10590898432
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    old. Ready to go. But, to think, if I had followed my hesitation that day, or turned away from her because she wasn't lively from the
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    beginning, I'd I have lost those awesome ten years with her.
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old life shy eyeliner year never reddit story growing pains perfect pawrents dog story texas young stop shelter dogs loving
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