From March 2006 though May 2008 Joy Ward was the dog blogger extraordinaire. She wrote with a passion and love that drew in a great readship. We’ll always be grateful for her time with Dogster. She is a true Alpha Dogster!

Joy Ward has been writing for most of her life and living with dogs even longer. Her first novel, Haint: A Tale of Extraterrestrial Intervention and Love Across Time and Space, combines her love of dogs and her passion for writing into a work of speculative fiction that photographer, artist and author William Wegman called, “exciting and full of wisdom, and acclaimed canine ethologist Vilmos Csanyi says he is, “telling everyone who loves dogs to read.”

You can read more about Haint at Joy’s website, and her other blogs, joyward.blogspot.com and haintdog2.blogspot.com.

Joy is originally from Memphis, Tennessee and lives in St. Louis, Missouri with Weimaraners Sol and Star, Coonhound mix Annie and Beagle Beatrice. Her extended family includes three other Weimaraners — Cloudy, Tank and Luna.

Haint: A Tale of Extraterrestrial Intervention and Love Across Time and Space has been called a “different kind of dog story.” One reviewer said that Haint is a “dog story like Black Beauty is a horse story and Watership Down is a rabbit story.”

Dog lovers are discovering Haint and sharing it with their friends. One reader tells people walking dogs to read Haint. And they do! Another reader wrote in to say that while assisting lost dogs in the Katrina Aftermath she told other rescuers to read Haint.

These are the dogs behind (and sometimes in front of) Joy