Before she came to live with Rachelle and Nathan Vincent, Molly the dog had been returned to a rescue group three times.
However, it was a case of fourth time lucky for the German shepherd-Staffordshire bull terrier cross when she came to live at the Vincents’ Shepparton home.
Before getting Molly, Rachelle said she asked why she had been returned and was told it was through no fault of the dog’s and was because she was not what was expected of a puppy.
When she first came to live with the Vincents, Molly was timid and shy.
“She was scared of everything,” Rachelle said.
For the first three days Molly would not go near Rachelle, but would sit next to Nathan.
“On the third day I started crying - I thought she didn’t love me,” Rachelle said.
What happened next has formed a bond between the pair.
“She came over and started licking my tears and crying,” Rachelle said.
“She’s been my dog ever since.”
Rachelle said she thought the other people who had Molly before them were not patient enough with her.
“She just needed patience and love,” Rachelle said.
Molly was so timid she even had to be taught how to play with toys, and it was three months before she learned how to.
Now, she loves playing.
“If you’re willing to throw the ball, she will bring it back as long as you are willing to play,” Rachelle said.
Besides her ball, Molly also has some other favourite toys – especially anything she can bite.
“She likes things with different textures. She likes to chew,” Rachelle said.
Five years on, Molly and Rachelle have a special bond and Rachelle says she also acts as a therapy dog for her as she has a mental illness and an auto-immune disease.
“She’s so in tune with me and I’m so in tune with her,” Rachelle said.
“She knows if I’m having a bad day, even when I don’t.
“If I’m stressed, she’ll be more cuddly … she’ll be right beside you or under your feet.
“She just knows when I’m happy, when I’m down and when I’m sad.”
Rachelle said having to feed and walk Molly, as well as let her out to go to the toilet, has given her a reason to keep going even when she was having a bad day.
“She has given me that something to get out of bed for,” she said.
Molly is not the only pet the Vincents have.
A five-year-old rescue cat named Jangles is also part of their family.
Molly also played a part in Jangles joining the family.
The couple had hoped to get a cat at some stage, but thought they would wait until they had Molly for a few years.
However, they were looking at the foster kittens at PETstock in Shepparton one day and Jangles started swatting at Molly and playing with her.
And that was enough to make them decide not to wait any longer to get a cat.
“We thought ‘this is the one we want’ and we got her straight away,” Rachelle said.
Laughing, Rachelle describes Jangles as her husband’s “girlfriend”.
“She rubs up against his clothes. And she sits with him all the time,” she said.
“When Nathan would get home she would run up to him.
“I think we have an understanding – I think she has accepted I’m Nathan’s wife and she’s the mistress.”
Rachelle describes Jangles as a “sassy” cat who has “a lot of attitude”.
“Sometimes I get snuggles,” she said.
“She can be very loving when she wants to be – on her terms.”
Rachelle said Jangles could also be a very funny cat.
“She thinks … we’re her pets. That we do things to appease her,” Rachelle said.
While Jangles is comfortable around her family, she is very skittish around strangers.
“Other people come over and she’s gone. She just disappears,” Rachelle said.
“We know people who’ve been over 20 times (to our house) and have never seen her.”
Jangles has plenty of hiding spots in the house that she disappears to when visitors arrive.
“She can sit under couches, behind beds, under draws. As soon as people leave, she comes out.”