The big guy with the gigantic ears and doggie grin is Pete. He had been physically abused in a pretty severe way when I found him, dumped in the desert to die as an unwanted burden. His previous owners had hurt him so badly that I had to lock myself alone in the back room for a time when I changed clothes, because he would start crying and piss all over himself in terror if he saw me unbuckle my belt. But I kept at it, through the destructive behavior and lack of house training and nightmares he kept having. Eventually my efforts paid off as Pete isn’t like that anymore.

He is so different from when he first arrived that a depressed puppy just would not do. Time to play!

Just like I kept at it with him, Pete has been working with Katy. Training her is easy, as she follows him around and does whatever she sees. She even mimics his body posture.

I took Katy back to the vet yesterday. She started crying as soon as the door to the shack closed, cutting her off from the sight of Pete. It was the first time she had cried like that since the day I had found her. All the way to the office she clung to me and buried her nose in my neck, trying to hold on to the smell of home.

The vet said Katy was doing remarkably well. She still needed a round of medication for the worms in her guts, but everything else had cleared up. In 21 days she had even gone from 5 1/2 pounds (2.5 kilos) to 10 pounds (4.5 kilos). The vet praised me for having such a deft touch with puppies in need, but I knew it wasn’t any of my doing. Katy eats so she can have the energy to play with Pete.

I took Katy back to the shack. She stopped crying when I set her down in the yard and locked the gate behind me. She looked around. Could it be? I opened the front door and stepped back. It would have been undignified to get knocked down in the rush of their reunion.

I found a puppy, alone and heartbroken in a field. She was crying for her litter mates, she was crying for her mom to wake up, and she was crying because the heat was killing her. But her litter mates never came, and her mom never woke up.

A sad story, full of tragedy and loss. But don’t feel bad about Katy. She has a brand new big brother that will look out for her, and fill her life with joy. And isn’t joy the best cure for a broken heart?