Four Friendship Stars

Porschia, a senior toy poodle, was resting on her front porch in Whitehall, Pennsylvania on a chilly day in February. She must have looked like a tasty meal to a large hawk, who snatched her off the porch and carried her away. Her owner, Deborah Falcione, frantically searched for her lost pet, but found no trace of her. As night fell and temperatures dropped well below freezing, Deborah feared the worst. The next day she received a call from a local animal clinic with an elderly dog in their care. Deborah was skeptical. “This is a six-and-a-half-pound dog,” she said. “She’s blind, she’s deaf. She’s sixteen years old.” The hawk had dropped Porschia into a neighbor’s yard, and the neighbor had taken the little dog – shaken, but unhurt – to the vet. “I’ve no idea how she got away. How she survived it, I’ll never know. But I know one thing: By the grace of God, this dog is still alive.”