Healing Ellie Healing Me by Cindi McGrath. The true story of Ellie’s and the author’s shared journey of self-discovery and healing. Ellie, abused and tortured before being cast aside as a not-quite-four-month-old puppy; this is her story of transformation. Discovered living in a culvert, starving and covered with wounds and parasites; this is Ellie’s journey from a distrustful and traumatized puppy to a healthy, happy, 120-pound lapdog. Unlike many stories told from a dog’s perspective, Ellie’s story is different. Ellie’s story is true. A true tale of neglect, torture, and abuse followed by rescue, deep struggle, and healing. That Ellie found the one person - the only person - who could save her was destiny. A dog that surely would have been abandoned yet again by most others; author, animal communicator, and intuitive healer, Cindi heard Ellie’s plea for help: ‘Why was I unlovable to them? Help me. YOU show me how to heal. I don’t know another way. I don’t want to be a bad dog.’ The other dogs and humans who shared Ellie’s journey might have chosen the word fate vs. destiny; Labrador Olive, ‘Why are you listening to Ellie? Stop it! Don’t listen to her! I’ve been here the longest and I am the lead dog!’ Ellie’s anxieties were many: fear of water - lakes, streams, rivers, puddles, rain; fear of the dark; fear of the forest; fear of men; fear of young boys - an actual terror of young boys; fear of enclosed spaces. A twenty-four by twenty-four-foot room was, to Ellie, enclosed space. Ellie bristled and then rushed at virtually anything that surprised her, from a tiny insect to someone entering her home. Along the path of Ellie’s recovery, Cindi asked, ‘What do you need from me, Ellie? Where do I even begin to help you through all of this trapped anger and rage? I want to help you Ellie, but you need to help me understand. What does Ellie want?’ Ellie replied, ‘I need a consistent environment. I need a SAFE and CONSISTENT environment, and I don’t want anyone to argue with me over what I feel I need. When someone argues with me I feel like I am going to die and I just start fighting. And I don’t always know WHAT I am fighting. Then I come to, and I have to see what happened. I’m trying to function within that. I am trying to function.’ You won’t put this book down once you’ve met Ellie where her journey toward healing began; in a ditch alongside a lonely road on a cold October evening.