Pets often bring a smile to our faces, and we are always thrilled to see the images that our readers send in that include a slice of life with their pets.

This week, we have several participants who shared photos illustrating moments that comprise their pets lives; at play, kicking back, getting into a little mischief — plus one very heartwarming story of a dog named Sugar.

In reading through the submissions, the heading of one email caught my eye: 'adopted, abuse case, blind, plays a mean game of fetch.' I had to learn more about the story behind those words and the photo of an enthusiastic dog who appears to have an enormous joie de vivre.

"I saw Sugar (the name they gave her, and I couldn’t change — it was so fitting) at Petfinder.com. Her picture so sweet. Seems the owner was abusing her. She had a broken leg and a neighbor called the abuse in. Sugar was removed, and they went about getting her leg fixed when they noticed she had detached retinas. Thinking it was from abuse, they could not find any skull fractures. She was 9 months old.

"Her birth wasn’t known so they picked Sept. 11, 2001. She adapted to her surroundings within hours and on walks no one believed she was blind. She plays fetch (meaning she gets the toy), she loves to cuddle and sleeps with us every night at our feet. When Sugar was 4 years old, she started having cataracts, then two years ago, glaucoma, so her eyes were removed. Sugar’s eyes now are a moonshine lavender, and they move and blink as if nothing is different. Sugar is our love bug — our lives are so much richer. Sugar has taught us so much. Sugar’s abandonment issues were so strong, we adopted another shelter within a year — Sugar is the quiet alpha all the way."

Despite Sugar's difficult life before coming together with her forever family, she has enjoyed life to the fullest, and could certainly teach us all a few things.

In continuing our ongoing Pet Photo Friday feature, we invite you to email a photo of your pet to ppsa2mi@gmail.com, any time during the week.

Please include the animal's name, age, and city or township of residence in your email. Be sure that your photos are 600 pixels wide and in .jpg format.

We put the week's photos into a slideshow, publish and promote each Friday here in the Pets section.

Lorrie Shaw is lead pets blogger for AnnArbor.com. Follow her pet and writing adventures on Twitter. She welcomes your contact via email.