Jenny was homeless. She lived under a bridge in Nashville, where dirt and spider webs welcomed her. Filth constantly streaked her face, and her worn out clothes were ripped and torn. Her live would have been horrible, just horrible, if it weren't for the young, dirty animal that saved her life.

It all started the day Jenny was kicked out of her home. She didn't pay for her rent, so the owners of her home threw her head first through the door with a single, grudging, look on there ugly, ugly faces. They sneered at her for living the way she did.

Because she lived alone.

Alone was the key word for her life. It seemed that no one loved, had every loved or every will love this lonely women. She was poor in spirit, money, and love

But life found a way.

After a few of being homeless, Jenny felt a craving in her stomach for food. It was a wretched feeling, like some one was ripping a hole in her heart. For a day she withstood the pain, but by morning she started to die. And she almost welcomed it. Her life just wasn't a life worth fighting for.

But then the raccoon showed up.

He was small in size but big at heart. His ringed bushy tail was long, and he wore a mask of black. The first time Jenny saw him, he was walking proudly along the bank of the river beneath the bridge. She watched him for quite a bit, savoring the last creature she'd ever see, and then turned back over and squeezed her eyes shut. But a soft padding noise made her look up. Two, big, brown, watery eyes stared up at her. He seemed to smile under his mask at her. But then he turned around and trotted off.

The smile that had shuffled playfully onto Jenny's lips vanished. He was gone. Just like before. She felt dry tears streak down her parched face, oh so dear. She saw a flash of her life, when someone so close to her had left her too, alone and without a way to live. She was done. It was over. But before she could let the willingness of death take her away, the padding sound returned. She glanced back up, and saw that the raccoon had returned, and with him, in the grove of his mouth, was a snapped twig with a big juicy apple hanging loosely on the end.

Jenny felt her head swing up. Her head swam. She reached forward towards the apple as fast as her tired body would allow. She expected the animal to flinch away. But instead he happily dropped the apple near her outstretch and trotted back off.

He reminded her of a story she had seen in the newspaper. Now that she pondered on the subject, she realized she still had the newspaper in her bag.

Frantically she dumped all her belonging ( Which only included the newspaper, a pen, and an old dress) onto the ground and picked up the newspaper to scan the headline. And the it caught her eye.

Priceless Picasso the dog

Not long ago, Picasso and Pablo were on a shelter's kill list. The two dogs are brothers — one with a smile unlike any other. And instead of their story ending in a back room of a shelter, Luvable Dog Rescue took them in and changed their lives forever.

Liesl Wilhardt is executive director of Luvable Dog Rescue, where lucky dogs stay in special cottages (instead of kennels) until they are adopted.

In mid-February, Liesl learned about two 10-month-old dogs who had been brought to a very busy California shelter because their owner had been unable to sell them. The short-legged pups were scheduled to die.

Liesl often takes in animals from the shelter, and that’s how she found out about the dog with the twisted jaw who, without some immediate help, wouldn’t be alive much longer.

Liesl said yes to the dog now known as Picasso, whose name is a nod to the artist's creativity with human and animal forms. Then there was Picasso's brother, Pablo. The two had been together since birth, and Pablo needed saving just as much as Picasso. "I said I'd take them both," Liesl says. "I couldn't imagine leaving a family member behind."

When the pair arrived in Oregon a couple of weeks ago, Liesl put their photos and videos online. People immediately and overwhelmingly fell in love with them.

Since arriving at Luvable Dog Rescue, Pablo and Picasso have become acclimated to their great new environment. They live in a cottage with two other friendly dogs. They play and hike on snow-covered trails. They are learning to walk on leashes.

"They're both loving, wonderful, trusting dogs," says Liesl. "They've blossomed since they've been here." Remarkably, both dogs are healthy — though Picasso will need surgery to fix a tooth that, due to the twisted jaw, has pushed a hole into the bottom of his mouth.

After that, Liesl will start considering the thousands of adoption applications that have already been filed by people who want to give these brothers a home — together, of course.

These brothers could very well not be alive right now, had things gone a little differently. Instead, they are blissfully happy in Oregon, while utterly unaware of how popular they've become on the internet, and even the local news. "I think they know that they're loved," says Liesl. "And that's all that matters to them."

For days Picasso (for that is what she called him now) would return to her and bring berries, more apples, and occasionally, a ripped bag of nuts. Jenny would take the food gratefully and eat most of it, but not before dumping a small pile on the ground beside her him.

On nights when the wind was the loudest and coldest, Picasso would lie on her feet and keep her warm. And on the days when hunger would only burn her in the slightest way, Picasso would bring food.

So, in this way, Picasso saved her. He feed her. He kept her warm.

But most of all?

He returned.