One raining winter night, when Nightingale was almost 2 years old, she had a really horrifying experience. While she was asleep in her velvet basket, thieves irrupted in to my house in Italy and stole everything of value including Nightingale. Poor little one, I guess she tried to run away but she was never a good runner! So she was petrified…and in my dreams and in my thought I only could imagine her feelings and her terror. Her terror was big like the entire world. My loving family spent almost two weeks to try to find her. They placed ads in the local newspapers, posted posters on streets, met with the policemen (carabinieri) …but nothing! Two terrible and anguished weeks! For me and my family, Nightingale was more important of all the jewelry and money stolen in our house. We badly wanted to have her back!
 On a Monday morning, exactly two weeks from the disappearing, we received a nasty letter: "You want to have your useless dog back you give us money ... lots of money!"
  " No way! " - Completely and absolutely against my dad's principle and integrity, against all his beliefs and ideals, his morality, against his opinion.
  " Please .... I cannot just live her and forget everything about her!" - I finally convinced him to pay a small ransom. Yes, this was outrageous but we did not have any other choice and any real assistance from anyone. In the end we got the poor girl back.
  When these thieves stole Nightingale, her long coat was wrapped in the curlers (like all show dogs), she also had a pink satin jacket which was to protect her hair. But when she came back home she looked pathetic and miserable. When she was returned to us, for a long, long moment I almost did not recognize her. She was completely nude. Oh no!! Her marvelous coat was shaved off, just a few hair on top of her spine and on her heartbreaking face. I could see she was abused. She was in shock, she missed two teeth, she refused to eat, she was terrorized. For weeks she hid under the sofa or under the bed and it seemed she refused to live. We almost lost her. Her personality was irrefutably changed and her trust for human beings completely destroyed. We really never knew what terrible thinks happened to her!
  After that horrible experience Nightingale became very possessive with all my family, and very timid with our guest. Eventually her hair grew back, she got a little more confident with strangers but she never participated to a Dog Show anymore. She just decided to became my moms pet! Nightingale needed lots of love. After her terrible experience, Nightingale started to have epileptic crisis every time we left her alone or when it rained.
  When Nightingale was three years old, she had a false pregnancy, and the day she was to give birth, she disappeared for almost 24 hours ... I was in Italy and my parents have this big house with a very large property. We tried to find her, went all over, called her ... Nothing! We were very worried and afraid .. But that night, very late she came back. She was all dirty, full of scratches but with something very special. Her eyes were full of life and joy like a heroine who just won her big battle. She had a scary kitten of about two weeks in her mouth. This small kitten was so heavy for her small mouth but she was very happy and proud, finally she had her own baby. She put the kitten in her basket and started to clean him and kiss him. We never knew where she found that small kitten. We figured out there was a litter some place in our garden and she stole a kitten from there. She raised this kitten as he was a Yorky! We named him Sirius. She was very jealous and possessive of him. Very protective and attentive! She gave him milk and she stopped having epileptic seizures and no longer afraid to stay alone.