Anyone who rescues a dog or cat wonders what happened that caused the animal to need adoption.

I look at Joey’s round, brown eyes and pull my fingers across his velvet ears. It makes me smile to see his tail brush through the air and touch each side of his body with joy. I abandon my preoccupations on a walk to watch him savor a roll in the grass. Paws in the air, belly to the sun, he twists his head to look at me upside down.

Who could ever have let go of such as precious creature?

Did he follow his nose one day and wander through a gate? Was he taken in a car and abandoned somewhere? Is that why he quakes?

Someone cared enough to have him neutered and to get him a microchip – but not enough to license him.

I’ve let him off leash in forest land. I’ve watched him follow his nose around fallen tree trunks and along gullies. I’ve dodged branches and wobbled over the uneven ground pursuing him only to realize that he’s more surefooted and moving faster. Fear touches me with an icy finger. What if I can’t get him to come back? What if I lose him?

Did his other owners lose him by accident?