Jerusalem Gap — T.R. Pearson

Donald Atwell didn't want a dog.  He already had an ex-wife, a balky truck, and a cat that was part Persian and part Taliban.  But when a whiskery Blue-Ridge hillbilly put his puppy out on the side of the road, Donald didn't have much choice but to pick her up and take her in. Jerusalem Gap is the story of what happened next.  Of how, in saving a mutt, one prickly old cuss saved himself a little as well.