Penny = FIVE!

Just realized that Penny beagle turns 5 today.
She was at the shelter the first day I went to volunteer---15 pit bulls back in the cages, and the manager of the shelter is like "and then there is this dog we call Aspen, who is special" and there was a little beagle living in a basket in her office. She came out and crawled into my lap, wagging her tail and I was like
"can I have her???" and the manager was like "SURE!!!!" and the wife worked about one block away and I brought Aspen to meet the wife and there were tearful kisses and wags and all the rest, and we renamed her and I brought Penny home that day, where she joined our other dogs and cats.
Penny had been found in a snow storm. She had obviously just given birth---it was easy to see that she was a new mama, and was giving milk then too. She was turned into the shelter, but nobody was ever looking for a sweet and small beagle mama, and we don't know where she came from or what happened to her pups. I would like to believe she was in a loving family and had her pups in the kitchen and they were already 8 weeks old when she saw a squirrel outside and ran 100 miles and got lost (that is the story I hope for, it is also possible some sh!thead abandoned her in a snow storm).
ANYWAY, Penny is a small, 13 inch beagle, absolutely sweet and adorable and loves people more than any dog I have ever met (hates other dogs though) and she was spayed of course, and our vet guessed she was about 2 the day I adopted her, which became her birthday, April 28 :)