Book excerpt: In this newly revised personal memoir about love, courage and healing, Deborah Dozier Potter shares her relationship with her Border Collie, Buster, from the day she met him at the animal shelter until the last moment of his life. But this isn’t a typical pet love story. The author met Buster while in a state of cynicism and grief following the death of her father and her new pet helped to restore her faith in life. Buster then helped her cope with a high-powered marriage, intense stress and faltering self-esteem. When she suffered major trauma in a horse accident, Buster stayed by her side, his herding dog instincts protecting her vulnerable and broken body. A year after the accident she became too tense to be touched by others or leave her home, unaware that she had developed a severe case of PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder). She tells us how she discovered she had this disease and how Buster became her official service dog. She describes her struggle with PTSD symptoms, and what it was like to travel on airplanes and function in public with a disability. Buster, as a therapy dog, helped restore her mental health and self-assurance and lead her back into a normal life. This is their story.