A young couple found a man dressed in several layers of badly worn clothing wandering around Petsmart with a tiny, emaciated black puppy in his arms. He was saying to himself that he could not afford dog food.
They asked the man about his puppy. He said he needed someone to take her because he did not have any money to care for her. They asked if he would take twenty dollars for her, and he did.
They brought her to me to be examined. Other than her very thin body condition, I found no other physical problems. They did not know if they were adopting or rescuing…they just saw a puppy in need and a man in distress and swooped.
Two days later, Layla came home to live with us, and we renamed her Joy Layla Finch.
The name Joy was suggested by the daughter of Joy King, who had been our very dear friend and had recently passed away. We also named her in honor of our other dear friends’ newborn daughter whose twin sister had just passed away. Joy…what an odd thing to name our new puppy during what was such a sad season for so many friends we loved. She has more than lived up to her name.
When I first met Joy, I was so angry at the man who had almost let her starve to death. My friend Janelle said, “He did take her to where he knew she would get help.” That statement stopped me in my tracks. I feel as though I owe him an apology and a thank you, though I have never met him.
So I will write one here, and though he will almost certainly never see it, I hope it serves as a reminder to let my first reaction be one of compassion not judgment.
To the original caretaker of Joy the Puppy,
Thank you for the gift of Joy. She is warm and fed. I pray that you are too. I will keep an eye out for you and try to make sure that you are.
If you had been in a different season of life, would you have kept her? If there is room in your life for a puppy again, I will do everything I can to help make that happen.
Forgive me for being so angry initially that she was such a skinny thing. I know that when you ran out of puppy food, you shared your own food with her. I would have held on to her until the last possible moment too. I will remember that before I judge someone who is probably doing the best they can.
Be proud of your dog. She turned out great. If you hadn’t protected her from the streets of Omaha in those first bitterly cold weeks, she would not have survived. If you had not taught her love from the start, it would have taken us years. If this does not reach you directly, I will try to thank you indirectly every way I can.