There’s this starving artist who occasionally has to barter her work for everything from plumbing to food. She lives in a part of town that is “in transition” beside this dump of a house where the owner kept his ex-wife’s dog locked in a windowless shed in the back yard. The dog never got out, its bedding was never changed. The artist learned about the dog when she moved two years ago and heard it whimpering. She asked about it, but the neighbor said it was none of her business. She learned the truth about the dog from another neighbor who said she hadn’t seen the dog outside for two years.

The artist called the humane society nine times. They did nothing. She tried to buy the dog but got nowhere, partly because she was only offering $50, all she had. Then she called a customer who agreed to try to buy the dog in exchange for a painting. The customer, a woman, approached the guy and offered $200 for the dog (she was prepared to pay $500). When the guy unlocked the shed and let the dog out, its fur was matted, its head bowed, it was covered in feces. He was in such a state even the dog’s owner was ashamed and he just gave the dog to the woman for nothing. She took the 11-year-old Alaskan Malamute home and cleaned him up. Then she took him to a vet clinic where they did a physical, removed three infected teeth and gave the dog his shots. The woman thought she’d keep the dog just long enough to find him a good home, but that was two weeks ago. She has fallen for this wonderful animal and she’s keeping him in her upscale home where his bed is a large, round pillow in a sunlit room where the door is never closed. 

I don’t understand it, but there are lots of people who have animals they don’t care about. To save them, it takes someone like the artist who doesn’t have any money but is willing to exchange all she has, her art, for the well-being of a dog who was unlucky enough to become a pawn in a divorce but lucky enough to eventually get the attention of a caring neighbor.