Last spring, Jennifer Vangelatos took her kids and her dad to Aruba. One of the wild dogs that roam the island’s streets quickly adopted them–sitting on the porch chairs, eating cookout scraps, even running with the family joggers. But they had no intention of making the relationship permanent–until, a few days before they were scheduled to fly home, she came out of the weeds, in Jennifer’s words, “bloody and torn to the bone.”
“We couldn’t leave her there,” says Jennifer. They took the dog to a local vet, the first of four visits before she was well enough to travel. “My dad named her Reba,” after the redheaded country singer McEntire. Though now pudgy and happy in her new home on Robinwood, Reba has not forgotten her street origins. “As she sits by the pool,” says Jennifer, “she eats bugs.”
