A city boy, I had little association with animals, with the exception of a male English bulldog, Fella, who was my best friend until I was fi ve years old. We played together, napped together and ate from the same bowl together when our mother wasn't looking. His broad tongue covered my whole head in two swipes and many giggles. I was fi ve years old when he died but I remember him as though it was yesterday. Th e picture on the front cover is my Fella. He, above all others instilled in me a love for all animals. I grew up in Canada, receiving a doctorate in veterinary medicine at the University of Guelph, Ontario Veterinary College. At the age of nineteen I dedicated the next two years of my life to my church, serving as a full time missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in France and Switzerland. In the fi nal week of my mission, I had an experience I have recorded in these pages that softened my heart and my head and led me down a path to my future life's work. Th e subsequent adventures are recorded in large part in this book. Life changing adventures and lessons learned in the small family farm barns, often in the dead of night, of central New York and northern Vermont, and within the welcome warmth of my clinic. A word of caution: if a cow has a bad cough from pneumonia, DO NOT stand behind he