Last October, when Linda Taylor and her husband, Donald, disembarked from their Yale Educational Tour of Ancient Cities to visit the remains of the ancient city of Troy, Linda, who had sat down for a cool drink outside a small shop, heard a low whimper and looked down to see a very thin dog with a beautiful face. Turkey is full of well cared for "street dogs", but this one was in terrible shape.

"She was covered with mange," Linda explained. There was no one to help her for the Troy excavations are very isolated, and I knew she wouldn't last long."

Linda could not forget the dog she met in Troy.

"She made such an impression on me. She was struggling so hard to survive and her fate was so dismal. I can't turn my back on suffering."

Shortly after the Taylors returned to Middleburg from their vacation, Linda was in Asheville, where she grew up, visiting friends. While there, she met a wonderful Turkish businessman, Tunc Togar, who lives in Asheville but owns a business in Turkey.

"I told him about this extremely sad dog I'd met in Troy, and explained how much I had wanted to help, and he said he would be delighted to assist. I couldn't believe it, but he is very well connected in Turkey and, although he named the search and rescue "Mission Impossible", he went to work immediately to find the dog he called "Helen of Troy."

Soon, Tunc had friends locate the dog and sent photos to Linda to verify her identity. Linda confirmed that the dog in the photos was Helen and Tunc arranged with a vet tech and team to pick her up and transport her the 180 miles to Istanbul.

"After almost three months of baths and intense care to get her well and ready to travel, Tunc prepared the required paperwork to allow her to leave the country," Linda explained. "He owns an import-export company, so he was very knowledgeable about the regulations we needed to meet."

Soon, Helen was on her way from Istanbul to her new home in Middleburg in a "very posh" little crate with the love and good wishes of all who had cared for her.

"She is uniquely endearing," according to Linda, "but getting a dog out of Turkey is not easy… she had to go to the Ministry of Agriculture for inspection to be certain she was not carrying any disease and many approvals were needed for her to travel to the United States."

"My hat is off to the Turks for caring so deeply for their animals."

Today, Helen of Troy lives in Middleburg in a family of friendly dogs and cats who quickly welcomed her.

The brindle shepherd mix with deep chocolate ears and a spectacular herringbone tail does indeed have a beautiful charcoal face, a soft taupe chest and a truly sweet disposition.

"She would have soon died a terrible death in Troy," Linda said. "I'm so happy she's here and I'm so grateful to Tunc. I just feel this was meant to be and I am eternally grateful to the wonderful Turkish man who worked so hard to make this 'mission impossible' become 'mission accomplished'."