Her name was Lady, and she was lost, alone and afraid, far from home and friendless.

The little stray German shepherd turned up at the right doorstep, though, the home of Doug and Sheri Bolton.
The Boltons live away from it all, but seem a magnet for strays.

Maybe they can sense when someone cares.
They already have two stray dogs they've adopted, and a stray cat, too.
Sherri's usually the one who takes a pet in.
"I try to be the bad guy," Doug says.
But it just doesn't fit his personality.
The shepherd showed up on the Sunday before the Fourth of July, a stormy weekend.
She proved horrified of thunder, Doug says. Whenever it thundered, she'd cower in a corner.
This wasn't your everyday homeless mutt.
She had on a collar, and was well mannered. She knew a few commands, too.
"It was just a sweet dog," Doug said. "You could tell it had been taken care of."
But there was no way they could keep her. They already had three animals at home, including one very territorial pooch. As the ad said, "At some point in the near future we'll have to take her to Animal Control because one of our dogs will fight her."
So, they called around and we ran an ad in The Covington News, offering the dog for adoption and including photos of a very happy-looking, hard-to-resist dog.
The ad ran on a Sunday, and by Monday, three people had called, saying they wanted Lady.
The Boltons were ready to adopt her out Monday afternoon when Animal Control called.
They thought they knew who the owner was. They gave Sherri a name and number.
She called, described their houseguest, and an identity was confirmed.
They returned the shepherd to its human, Lottie Johnson, mother of Superior Court Judge Horace Johnson, who lived a few miles away.
"That worked out very well, actually," Doug said.
Indeed.
The dog was home and happy, Ms. Johnson was happy, and the Boltons earned a few extra karma points.
Lady was no tramp after all.