How a Puerto Rican Dog Saved a Life by Tracey F. Johns
This isn’t the story of a dog’s efforts to save someone’s life in rough seas or in a dangerous search-andrescue mission. Many a canine has been noted or doing such a heroic deed, however. This story is instead about how a rescue puppy from Puerto Rico saved a local woman who had seemingly lost her will to live to COVID-19 isolation-fueled chronic depression and anxiety. This is a love story, in fact, about how this writer’s new companion, Stella Isabela, is a rescue dog in many ways. I came to know Stella Isabela by her first name “Bailey” and through a Facebook post by Iron Will Woodworks in St. Michaels. They had shared a post by the Puerto Rico Dog Fund looking to find homes for six motherless puppies found in a burning trash pile in Aguadilla, near Rincon. I filled out an online application and waited. Life for me at the time had become a series of days and nights spent alone, working from home, and usually through text or email. Sometimes I would startle myself hearing my own voice. I found my-
self not wanting to get out of bed on the weekends because it really didn’t seem to matter ~ there was no accountability of my life other than to myself and occasional calls from my grown children. 61
