Nena
October 7, 2010

Because their landlord wouldn’t allow Nena’s original family to keep all of their dogs, they chose to bring Nena to the MSPCA at Nevins Farm.  Luckily, the Nantucket MSPCA had kennel space available, so Nena, along with two other dogs, was transferred to Nantucket to await her forever family.  The staff at the Nantucket MSPCA shares her story:

In April of 2009, Nena came to us with two other pit bulls from the Methuen MSPCA Adoption Center, to help with their overcrowding.  We had some extra space and a lot of human resources, so over she came on the ferry, and soon was settled in to the Nantucket dog way of life.

She made dog and human friends here, played in the big yard, and watched as our other adoptable dogs came and went. . . and came and went.

We knew we would find a home for her eventually, but it was hard to watch her languish here due to the negative stereotyping of her breed.  We had adopters come in with a list of qualities they wanted in a dog that matched Nena perfectly—gentle, trained, great with kids—but when they discovered her breed, they backed away.

After six months in the shelter, we started to worry that Nena was feeling the stress of the kennel.  She was beginning to have the hang-dog look of one who is giving up hope.

Little did we all know that she was about to hit the forever home jack pot!  The only concern Jeff M. had upon seeing Nena on Petfinder.com was whether she was still available!  She was, so Jeff and his wife, who had just lost their own lab/pit mix, made the ferry trip over to the island, and spent the afternoon falling in love with Nena.  It wasn’t long before they were signing on the dotted line! 

Today, almost a year later, Nena works the morning shift at her dad’s liquor store—greeting each new customer with a wag and a smile.

-Stephanie Henke, MSPCA-Nantucket