On October 28th our Border Collie/Collie Bailey, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. Nothing has ever been harder as we were hyper attached. She promised she would find us the perfect dog when the time was right. We write a blog together on here, www.baileysjournal.com  It was January 15, this year when I printed a page from www.petfinder.com. It read:

Joy – Border Collie Age: Adult, Female Pet ID Joy

Notes: My name is Joy and I am a lovely petite Medium rough coat sable and white female Border Collie with a tail dock and from and rear dew claws removed. My weight is 35 pounds. I was dropped off in the night box of the county pound. My family just dropped me in over the high fence. I kept asking them roooowhy roooowhy are rooo leaving me. I watched the headlights until them disappeared. I did not know what would happened to me next. I just had a litter of puppies and I don’t know where they went either. Did they go to a place like this also? I was scared. I could hear barking from inside the building and I was afraid that another dog would come harm me. I stayed very still and waited for the sunrise. It wasn’t too long after the after the light returned that a car pulled up and man got out and looked over at me. He put a leash on me and took me inside. I barked at all the other dogs because they were making so much noise. Then one of them told me that they were barking to be fed so I started to bark for breakfast too. I wondered if my family would come and get me soon so I waited and watched the sunset and sunrise again. They never came back.

A day came when there were a lot of people coming and going and the ringing noise where people go and talk out loud to themselves kept ringing and ringing. I barked at all the people to get their attention but they were busy taking dogs from either side of me and from across the way from me. Where were they all going? I started ot get afraid again because there were a few of us left and the others were all quiet nad not saying anything. The silence I had wanted since I came here was now something that made me more afraid. What was going to happen to me now? The sun was starting to go down and that was the doors closed for the night and all the people left. All of us dogs would sit in the dark and talk to one another but there was no one near me to talk to and the new dogs that had arrived today were hiding in their crates. I was going to be all alone. A sudden fear swept through me. Then, all at once the door opened and in the doorway stood a woman. I barked as loud as I could.  She looked at me and turned away. I kept barking. I needed someone to know I was here! The the nice man who had taken me the first day came and opened my cage door. I ran out down the hall and there was the woman standing and holding a leash…my heart jumped. Leashes mean WALKS WITH PEOPLE!!! The woman loaded me into her van where I found a nice man who held me in his arms and made me feel safe. Off we went down the road. I know that my life is about to change. I know that I am going to be OK. I’m safe, someone cared enough to come and rescue me. And one day, someone will love me and I will learn to love again. Joy is desperately in search of a good home. Send application if interested.

It was posted by Indian Summers Border Collie Rescue OAIC, Inc., who had several other dogs listed, but none with a story like that. The first thought I had was how heartbroken the story made me. Next, I showed my husband and finally I called. I was so impressed that anyone would even take the time to write such a long description and write it in such a way that detailed, so beautifully, this dog’s quest for a home.

Let me explain that when I read this in January, Joy was in Ohio and we were in Florida for the winter with our beautiful, 11 year-old cat Safari, who had loved Bailey very much. We would not be returning to Pennsylvania until mid-May and I did not even know if this dog named Joy would like a cat or if my Safari would like her. But, I had hope and as it turns out, hope is just what I needed.

I sent an email to the address listed and never heard back. After a few days I decided to call Indian Summers and I got a voicemail with Dr. Victoria Summers’ voice on it. I loved the last part: “Leave your message after the pause,” which I immediately knew was a play on the word paws and I thought there she goes again with her creativity! I liked her and had not even spoken to her, I just was wishing she would call me back already and got to thinking that perhaps Joy was adopted and that is why she was not getting back to me.

A few days later, she called. I think we talked for an hour or maybe even longer. I thought she was perhaps a vet, but she went on to explain that she was a naturopathic doctor but she had been sick and once practiced in a women’s health office, but not anymore. We talked about Joy and how she was in an Amish puppy mill before she got to the pound. I learned more about Dr. Vic and after the first or second conversation I sent her a big box of oranges because I thought she might need them.

The next message she left on my cell phone was so sweet and I still have it saved. She appreciated that a total stranger would send her oranges. The next time I would send her a check for the dogs, simply to help out and because I wanted to. There was something about this woman who was so special and I could feel it 1500 miles away.

Dr. Vic is a gorgeous American Indian woman, inside and out. Her father was a full- blood and her mother was a beautiful Irish woman. She grew up on “the res” as she likes to say and still believes in the “old Indian ways.” Her grandfather once was on the cover of Life Magazine!

We met when we went to pick up Joy the day before Mother’s Day and this amazingly spiritual woman, who has cancer and was feeling poorly most of the time, greeted me like we had known each other 100 years. “One of the first things she said to me was it seems like I have known you forever.”  Easily, it did seem to be fact. Her favorite dog was Hope (pictured here but has since crossed over the Rainbow Bridge) and perhaps Bailey sent me to her and me to her because I need Joy and she needed Hope.

You see, this woman has a big plan for the future and as a person who has rescued more than 2,000 dogs in her life, this time she needed some help getting her message out. How odd is it that I am a writer and publicist? Bailey thought, well, we can help!

Dogs have stories and they can tell stories, and had I not met Joy, I never would have known about Dr. Victoria’s grand plan and I would have never been involved in helping!  Since I was starting Joy’s blog today, I thought I would mention this too for all you dog lovers out there. Here is a link to learn more: http://archive.constantcontact.com/fs030/1101200403029/archive/1110176592380.html

It’s funny how dogs, whether they be here on earth or over the Rainbow Bridge, can bring us together. I think they are a lot better than the politicians in Washington too!

Who knew that when I would simply go online to look for a dog, all this other stuff would happen? Bailey must have known and that is why I am here to tell the story.

Dr. Victoria Summers and her Hope in a boat, on the water; one of her favorite places to be….