pictured left to right, Lorraine, Swan on Lake Julia and Joy rolling around with happiness
Note: I am going to publish this here and on my other blog, www.baileysjournal.com because it is truly because of Bailey that so many magical things happen at Buhl Park.
For those of you who know this blog because of Bailey’s Journal and our book, Letters To Each Other, you know that Bailey has a special tree at this amazing park that was dedicated to her after she crossed over the Rainbow Bridge in 2011. She is the only dog with a tree of her own. I knew she would help me find the right dog after a while and of course her spiritual guidance led me to Joy. Literally.
Joy and I walk at Buhl Park every other day. It is her fun and exercise as well as mine. For me it is my peaceful time away from the computer which is much needed in my work.
There is a woman who is part of the staff of Buhl Park named Lorraine. She cuts grass. For many years she would have treats and stop to see her doggie friends and give them a treat. I am never critical of the park, but they stopped her from doing this as of this summer and I think it is stupid and so does Joy! I am sure I can speak for all the many dogs who walk at the park and were happy recipients of Lorraine’s treats!
Today we saw Lorraine and Joy got so excited as soon as she saw her coming on the mower. I had to give Lorraine some treats from my pocket to give to Joy. Lorraine told me she was having a rough morning, but I think I made her feel better and gave her a big hug. Lorraine, who has a dog of her own, told me that before she ever met me, she had seen the tree and its dedication made her cry. After we said Goodbye to Lorraine continued on our walk. The last part of the walk occurs around Lake Julia, which has beautiful swans and sweet ducks everywhere. Joy loves to check out the lake. As we were walking, a man came up behind us as Joy was stopped to smell whatever glorious scent she has found and he started to talk to me. He was walking an adorable, tiny dog which was black and white and Joy really liked her because she was not barky or aggressive. He said to me, “I don’t mean to tell you about my troubles, but I was married for 69 years and now it’s just me and my dog. I got her after my wife passed away several years ago.” I asked his name. He said it was Harry and his dog was Lady and she was 7 years old. She was a rescue, just like Joy. He said he liked Joy’s name. I really liked Harry. “I am 91 years old. This is our second walk today.” He told me one of his two kids lived in Florida and the other in New Jersey. “They want me to go live in Florida, but I don’t know.” Harry did not seem like he wanted to go there and he talked, walked and could hear perfectly. He did not even have a cane! He and Lady seemed to be doing great and I could tell Harry was always a handsome man. He still had his hair and was quite nice looking. I should have taken his picture. I hope to run into him again. “What is your name?” he asked. “I am Sherri and that rhymes with Harry, so I don’t think we will forget each other’s name,” I replied. No I won’t. I hope to see Harry and Lady again soon. Buhl Park has a way of bringing people together and dogs, like people, are social beings who enjoy meeting new people and learning new things. Today we met a nice man and his dog and what could be better than that on an early Wednesday morning?
This is a picture of Bailey at the park in my beret one Fall.. She loved it there as much as Joy…Everyone Love’s Buhl Park!
Today is Joy’s 4th Birthday. She, along with our cat Safari, is the light of our lives. She is always smiling, always happy. She truly lives up to her name in every way. Though she had a rough start in that puppy mill, it just shows how trusting and amazing dogs are and can be with the right set of circumstances. By the time we got her she was near two years old. Here we are 2 years later and she could not be a more pampered or loved little girl. She eats better than most people, sleeps wherever she wants and goes with me everywhere. She is an adventure-seeker, squirrel herder and cat lover. The relationship between man/woman and dog is truly a special one. Though I am not an overtly religious person , it really makes sense that God is dog spelled backwards, now doesn’t it? Happy Birthday little Joy. I love you so…
Today was my first Christmas so I get to write about it! My mom loves my name, Joy. I do too because it is a happy name and I am a very happy dog person, especially since getting adopted by my folks.. They are the best people for me in whole world. I feel so lucky that Victoria, my grandma and rescue hero, named me Joy because I think that started me onto a happy, positive path that someday I would get adopted.
I was a special dog because I did not just want to be with just anyone.. I had been through quite a lot and I needed to trust that I was going to get into a very special place and if I had to wait I would. Mom has told me of her dog named Bailey (www.baileysjournal.com) that she adopted and loved very much but went over the Rainbow Bridge and after the many months of crying she got up the courage to look around www.petfinder.com and there she found my picture and was smitten. She told me that what Grandma Summers wrote about me moved her so much, she just knew she was going to call about me. That was in February of this year. I had to wait until they returned to town in the Springtime and I was adopted the day before Mother’s Day! Is that not perfect? Now here it is 7 months later and not only do I have two homes, I love my brother cat, and never have to ut my paws into snow…ALSO…..I just celebrated my FIRST CHRISTMAS today!
It was fantastic. Mom decorated the tree with pink and white lights cause I love pink and so does she and we got lots of presents and I had home-cooked meals and I played with Angel and Zoe, my neighbor dogs.
My wish for Christmas is that many more dogs and cats be adopted. I had a friend at Indian Summers Border Collie rescue named Shawn. I really want him to find a home in the new year. He was my playmate but no one is adopting him. He needs a special person like I did. Please someone find Shawn – that is my wish! He is so sweet! That is what I wanted to say. I am very grateful for my life and for finding a forever home this year. As we approach 2013, I want more dogs to find good, loving homes. I love mine so much. I just wanted to say Merry Chrismas everyone just because it is the first time I have been able to say it! WOOF!
You never forget the day you adopt a dog. It’s so exciting, yet you wonder, will she like us? Will she want to leave the rescue home she is in now? Will she look at y ou and say with her eyes and soul, “sure I will go with you.”
It’s only been five months since Joy joined our world and we joined hers. I am so amazed by a dog’s ability to trust even after being harmed by humans in many cases, including hers. Joy was not physically abused, but she was neglected in the horrific Amish Puppy mill in which she was born and her puppies were taken away much too soon, causing her to have some fears, but they are dissipating very quickly because she is surrounded by love. She was lucky to be at Indian Summers Border Collie Rescue (www.indiansummers.org) for a year before we came along. Each day she gets better. At first sight, she still likes females better than males, except her daddy, of course – she loves the kisses out of him everyday…
If it were not for the many wonderful rescue organizations out there, it would be nearly impossible to have as many dogs, cats and other animals find good homes with the right people. I cannot say enough about people who are on the rescue end in the process of adoption. It takes so much dedication, care and most of all time ,to do right by these furry people with whom we choose to share our lives.
Joy is so grateful for the life she has now. Everyday she learns and see new things that she had not been exposed to before. She is such a puppy and watching a dog or a cat learn is so much fun and there is not a day that goes by that she does not make us laugh and smile. October 28th marks the day our Bailey crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. Her blog, www.baileysjournal.com has happily for me, become an inspiration for many people all over the world. Bailey promised me that she would find us the perfect girl when the time was right and, as always, Bailey was on target, like a true Border Collie–focused and strong-willed. We even were amazed that her name was Joy. Bailey knew how sad we (especially me) were and she needed to get our Joy back for us, literally and figuratively.
We could not be happier to have been lucky enough to be led toward finding Joy because she lights up a room and truly lives up to her name. Hands or paws, all anyone wants is to love and be loved. Joy, without a doubt, you are.
GrandMommy Victoria is the amazing woman who rescued Joy. She lived at Indian Summers Border Collie Rescue for a year before Dr. Vic determined that I was Joy’s mom. She says she knew this from the first message I left on her phone. She was concerned that Joy was “quirky” as she likes to call her. I would instead call Joy feisty and many have called me the same thing, so perhaps we were a match. She also described Joy as a dog “who is going to expect you to fluff her pillows, literally. She is a real princess.” Without ever meeting me, Dr. Vic thought I was a princess of sorts as well and knew instinctively that I was the right person after having had hundreds of calls about Joy.
There are so many wonderful qualities Joy has and as she cuddles with us intensely, I am always amazed how dogs can go through so much trauma and still wind up on the right side of trust. Joy has so much love to give and she loves that we give her so much attention, time and love right back. Even Safari, her best kitty pal, loved her immediately.
Thankfully, we can help Joy explore a whole new world. She still has a little fear – she does not like large crowds of people yet, but she is dealing with it and has become so friendly with people while walking at the park. Her favorite activity there is to chase the squirrels and I do MEAN chase them! She is strong and fast and she can smell a squirrel a mile away. I praise her each time she finds one and she loves that.
Dr. Vic named Joy so perfectly. I remember her telling me that she named her that because she literally was a joy. She does live up to her name. She has a joyous soul and her nickname has become Joyous, actually. She is so easy to love because of the intensity of her giving ways. I cannot thank Bailey enough for leading me to www.petfinder.com or Victoria and Kernie for rescuing her and taking such great care of her before we came along. Things have a way of happening that we cannot always explain and sometimes you really don’t need to know why. It just is as it should be.
For the first time in the four months since adopting Joy, I went back to Indian Summers Border Collie Rescue (www.indiansummers.org). I went there to help with a benefit auction for the organization from whence Joy came. Since coming home to live with us, Joy is such a happy girl. She knows she is loved and cared for and in only four months together, I think she has received thousands of kisses.
My husband calls her “his girl,” all the time. She plays with him as he tries to do his stretching exercises each morning. She puts one of her 100, soft, bone-shaped toys gently on his chest as if to say, “well, you are on the floor where I live now, so let’s play!” He loves playing with her and she makes him laugh.
She loves Safari, her brother. I think she has kissed HIM a thousand times since arriving. Safari, a cat who only truly shows love towards me, loves he attention that Joy has showered upon him. They lay next to each other all the time.
I have been lax on this journal of Joy’s tale but not because I have not thought about many things to say. Just before sitting down to write this I was watching a video by the Humane Society about the raiding of a puppy mill in South Carolina. Joy was originally in a puppy mill and when I think about the deplorable conditions that dogs can be born into it sparks a fury inside my brain that ultimately leaves you feeling almost helpless because there is such vast animal abuse in these United States..
I work so hard to share, post and spread the word of animal abuse and I hope that my little help-cog in the wheel will help get laws changed to make animal abusers culpable when they commit horrific crimes, such as operating a puppy mill. To me, every single one should be shut down in every state. Puppy mills should be illegal it’s as simple as that.
I think about how lucky Joy got, from the moment she left the puppy mill to the year she spent at Indian Summers and now in her permanent home, in which princess is the perfect word to describe her style of life. She deserves to be a princess and we are happy to give her the real life that she deserves. The unconditional love from one’s animal companion is the truest of all. I am lucky to have that kind of love with my husband, but I know not everyone, even married people, have that. Bailey found us Joy and I knew that she would find us the girl who belonged with us and she could not have done a better job. Joy is better and so are we for having her in our life.
If you can rescue an animal that needs a home, and you have the financial means as well as time to invest, then you should consider helping out a furry one or two. A life lived is fine, but a life lived with animal companions is far better.
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….
Joy's Tale 