Kay Pfaltz - Flashs Song: How One Small Dog Turned into One Big Miracle

P RAISE FOR F LASH S S ONG

F ROM THE author of Laurens Story: An American Dog in Paris , comes another beautiful tale of the power of love and the healing against all odds. [ Flashs ] Song speaks not only to the power of love and the human heart in healing, but also to the connection between humans and animals. This is a beautiful memoir, whose insights into dogs, love, and the intangible connection to all life will keep you turning the pages and lift your heart.

D R . M ARTY B ECKER , Americas Veterinarian

T HIS IS a very unusual and very beautiful book because it is filled with both heart and wisdom. Reading the story of Flash and Kay is like having a conversation with life. The rewards for the reader are similar to the lessons learned from our painful life experiences. But Kay and Flashs story make it less painful, while at the same time enriching our lives and making them more meaningful.

B ERNIE S IEGEL , MD, author of The Art of Healing and A Book of Miracles

I N MY opinion, Kay Pfaltz is brilliant: as an author, as a human beingone who fully understands what it means to love, the deepest, most expansive kind that includes all life. She is an artist of the highest moral and spiritual ranking. Flashs Song is magnificent, beautifully written from the Heart of Love within all, skillfully presented with a perfect combination of wisdom and humor. This is a book to keep close, return to often, and give to everyone you care about.

R ITA M. R EYNOLDS , author of Blessing the Bridge and Ask the Cow

F LASH S S ONG reminds us that with love and faith, nothing is impossible.

S USAN W ILSON , author of One Good Dog, The Dog Who Danced, and A Man of His Own

I HAVE admired Kays writing for so many yearswhat a gift she has for helping us connect to animals and see and feel the beauty and wonder they bring into our lives. Like Laurens Story, Flashs Song is a gem, not to be missed. If you have ever loved an animal, you will feel a kinship with Kay as she so beautifully describes that precious gift of unconditional love that they give us. If you have ever grieved the loss of an animal friend, Kay understands the depth of that loss.

J UDY C ARMAN , author of Peace to All Beings: Veggie Soup for the Chickens Soul

I FOUND that reading Flashs Song before going to bed was very soothing. This is a beautiful book, profound in its simplicity and love. This is a book that brings great comfort and perhaps the real miracles are within its magical pages.

J UDY N ELSON , author of Choices and Love Match

T HERE ARE few writers in existence who touch my heart more than Kay Pfaltz.... This book grabs us from the first page to the last and takes us into a sacred space where there is harmony on earth and poetry in the universe and love, love, love. Read it now!

A MELIA K INKADE , author of Straight from the Horses Mouth and The Language of Miracles

N ONHUMAN ANIMALS (a.k.a. animals) can teach us numerous lessons about trust, forgiveness, dedication, peace, and love. For many people, dogs play this vital role in character building. And, the same goes for Kay Pfaltz. Flash s Song, a deeply inspirational and moving book that covers our complete emotional landscape, shows clearly how a salamander wiener dog called Flash taught these and other lessons to Kay. His journey is a heartwarming reminder of just who other animals truly are when we open our hearts to them and allow them to pierce our souls.

M ARC B EKOFF , author of The Emotional Lives of Animals and Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed

F LASH S S ONG reminds us of the uniqueness of all beings, and their capacity to touch our hearts.

J ONATHAN B ALCOMBE , author of The Exultant Ark

F LASH S S ONG takes us on Kay Pfaltzs uplifting journey with a loving and often fearless dachshund. In times that are often cynical or despairing, give yourself a respite. This book will uplift your spirits and broaden your acceptance of what is possible when you open your heart to the love freely given by a small pup in a big world.

A LLEN A NDERSON , author of A Dog Named Leaf

F LASH LOVED to sing, and in this book you will hear his song in happy times and sad. You will hear it still once youve closed the book.

J ERRY S TEMNOCK , Doxie Delight

Authors note: Some names and places have been changed.

Copyright 2013, 2015 by Kay Pfaltz

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without the express written consent of the publisher, except in the case of brief excerpts in critical reviews or articles. All inquiries should be addressed to Skyhorse Publishing, 307 West 36th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10018.

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Marie Doucette

Cover photo by Ted Pfaltz

Print ISBN: 978-1-63450-256-6

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-0204-2

Printed in the United States of America

To Ted,

Who loved Flash

And to the memory of Rebecca Moravec

and to Chloe, Mosby, Yogi, Tasy, Dream, and Tippy,

and all those who go on before us,

becoming bright lights in the dark,

leading the way for us to follow

Love is the affinity which links and draws together the elements of the world... Love, in fact, is the agent of universal synthesis.

P IERRE T EIHARD DE C HARDIN

P ROLOGUE

T HERE WERE THE SOUNDS OF BEING ALIVE : THE BIRDS calling back and forth on a sundrenched day or the buzz of a fly. A chain saw coughing up the still air. After a summer shower there were cars in the distance moving along slick roads to unknown destinations, and their seemingly aimless traffic would get me thinking how none of us has any real knowledge of our destinies. We believe the dreams of childhood, but how many of these come to be? Still, we grow to love our little lives, the intimate clutter of a home, the backyard mud of winter calling to spring, even memories of a relationship that might have been. And that particular era into which we were born stretches before us turning back on itself again and again into timeless space. Ive heard it said that time doesnt exist and there are moments when I know this is true... a dj vu, or... sometimes when I stand very still on a clear spring day and he comes back to me.

At night there were the unexplained creaks of the house, or a bare branch scraping against the windowpane. Sometimes just the silence of the dark itself. But the best sound of all was the light sleeping breath of the dogs beside me. For so long a sound I took for granted, until our lives turned upside down.

Why does it take so long to realize the beauty of what we have, of what we have always had? Why does it so often take death, if even a figurative death of some part of ourselves, to cherish all, great and small alike?

For me, it took a tiny dog with a giant spirit to awaken me from unconscious slumber. Like many before me, I had walked with cardboard shadows, not realizing that at any time I chose I could cut them loose. I walked through the darkness of fear, unaware that beyond my grief awaited something vaster, yet somehow understanding that going through was my only way out. And while no one escapes the footfalls of fate, there is a depth one reaches only in sorrow. Out of this sorrow we are either crushed, unable to accept lifes ruptures, or awakened into a state of grace.