When I first saw her photo on social media, something in me just knew — she was mine. Her name was Grizzly then, and her sister was Panda, both named after bears. But the dog in that photo wasn’t fierce or wild. She was one giant itching scab with sad-eyes, the most heartbroken-looking dog I had ever seen. The name Grizzly never sat right with me. It didn’t match the sweetness I could somehow already see underneath all that suffering.

We adopted her in December 2019, just a couple of days before Christmas and on the drive home that night, the moon hung low and bright in the sky. My son looked at her, then up at that moon, and said her name should be Luna. A light born in darkness. It fit her in a way Grizzly never could.

The road ahead of us was long. That first night home Luna whined and itched her way through the entire night. It was truly heartbreaking, but it motivated us to find answers fast. Luna needed a bath every other day just to find relief from her skin, along with a steady rotation of medications. It took time — real time — before we finally tracked down the source of her allergies and got her onto a food that let her skin and coat heal properly. It took months, too, before she truly warmed up to us, before the guarded, traumatized dog we brought home let herself trust that she was safe. She showed us her love for fetch, her lightning speed, and her love to explore the neighborhood and sniff out every last squirrel and chipmunk she could find.

We later did genetic testing out of curiosity and learned Luna is a cattle dog and miniature pinscher mix — the source of her handsome black-and-tan markings and her short, stout little frame.

Today, there’s almost nothing left of that scabbed, sad dog in the photo except the story we get to tell. Luna is, hands down, the smartest, sweetest, and at times the most stubborn and silly dog I’ve ever known. She came to us already fully trained, and she has since made herself fully at home — she runs like the wind, she plays ball with her whole heart, and she shares her life with two cat siblings, and my son, who she adores.

Everyone who meets her falls for her immediately. She is, without exaggeration, the light of our lives.

Grizzly now Luna