my RB Lady had a pretty hard life before we got her - she's been gone since I was about 16. Hard to believe it's been 10 years! ANyway, she was actually our neighbor's dog, and we found out that they beat her and abused her. She also used to run away from them a lot (wouldn't you?). So, we 'stole' her. Lady was already 8-9 years old or so, and had been enduring this all her life. Even through all of the abuse, she was the sweetest, kindest, most gentle dog I've ever met. We moved out of the neighborhood shortly after taking her, and a year later her old owners called us (they must have found out from a neighbor or something that we had her). We told them that we had to give her up. We had to put her to sleep when she was around 17 because she had cancer and it was getting pretty bad, but I'd like to think that she had a good life once we got her. I still miss her and think about her to this day.