My Name Was Sheba — And I'm STILL Not Done Yet

Sheba — The dog who started it all.

My name was Sheba. But that wasn't always my name.

When I came into this world the people who had me called me Kill. I didn't know what that meant. I just knew I wanted to be loved.

Then one day a man named Berney saw my picture. Something in him said — that dog needs me. And I need her.

From the moment I met him and his wife Nickie I knew I was home.

I had a little sister named Tiki — a Chihuahua who thought she was much bigger than she was. I loved her more than she knew. One night while Berney and Nickie were away a coyote came for her. I didn't think. I just ran. I knocked that coyote off its feet and chased it away into the dark. Because that's what you do for family.

Nobody trained me to do that. Love trained me.

I was with Berney and Nickie for twelve years. Through moves and new places and new faces. I was there when their youngest son was three years old and wanted to hug me and climb on my back. I let him. Of course I let him.

Then one day something changed inside me. Cancer. For six months Berney and Nickie watched over me the way I had always watched over them.

On my last day I put my head in Berney's lap. I felt his hands on me. And I knew — I was loved. Completely. Without condition. Without end.

That's all any of us ever really wants.

Because of me Berney and Nickie built something. They called it The Forever Family Project. Because every animal deserves a forever family. And because love like ours — is never done.