More: We are unsure of her age and breeds because she was a stray; the age estimate is her veterinarian’s. I was driving home in a terrible rainstorm one night in March 2015 when a tiny, skinny, shivering mutt crossed the highway in front of my car. Wrapping her shivering, soaked body in husband Jeff’s jacket, I gently placed her next to me in the front of our small SUV, where she promptly threw up, had a seizure, then curled up into an impossibly tiny ball of fur and jutting bones. Our diligent efforts to find an owner were unsuccessful. It didn’t help that our little stray had no chip. And Lika, as we had started calling her, was skin and bones; she had clearly been on her own for quite some time. She also showed signs of mistreatment or abuse. Today, while she still shows some of those traits, she is a very happy and well-adjusted dog. She’s extremely affectionate, alert, smart, and agile. “Lika” (LEE-kah) is sort of a play on “leaker,” which is what she was, all over the house, for the first couple of weeks. It doesn’t mean anything in Hawaiian. She gets along fairly well with our small conure, and we love them both to bits! We are a very happy little family of four — two humans, a dog, and a green-cheeked conure. Sorry this turned out so long! Nancy Christenson Clark Honolulu, Hawaii