Joan Downey

Bobbie, Md Joan Downey

Who dares to estimate the love of a dog for a person, or that person's love for the dog? Who but a dog can enter our innermost thoughts and with a knowing glance fill us with peace and solace? The creature who lies solemnly by the door when we leave, abandons all sadness in joyful dance on our return. A companionship without measure, dogs alter our hearts, causing them to bulge from joy, and shatter when they leave us all too soon. True to their being, they await our return to them - somewhere. Bobbie, M. D., is all of the above. A stray cocker spaniel Bobbie, elevates Danny, a tot with disabilities, to his feet and the joys of a full life. Bobbie transforms those who know him. Once the mission for Bobbie's life seems fulfilled, it is abruptly terminated, leaving emptiness and longing. This hollowness compels Bobbie to find what it was that had filled his life, a thing he has no name for. Whatever it is, it is more than life, or the peace of death. Not spared the loss of his beloved dog, young Danny's life is torn apart, leaving him with one wish: To be next to his beloved Bobbie again. Long after Bobbie, M. D. was completed, an article appeared in the Ventura County Star that astonishingly paralleled Bobbie's and Danny's. Today, after much study, the medical field is accepting the healing effects a dog, or other animal, has on those suffering illnesses. What child and dog have always known, man is slowly learning. (Permission to cite Ventura County Star by John Moore, Managing Editor)