Gary,

Since your last message had the URL for your web page, I decided to take a look. I was very touched by your tribute to Sunnie. It made me think of some of the four legged friends that have played a large part in my life.

One such friend was Pete, 100% pure mutt and as loving, inteligent, loyal, and giving as they come. He was watch dog for the entire neighborhood. A job that earned him both the love of the neighbors and some of the best steak you could ever want. At times, he ate better than we did!

Every Sunday we would ride to church. And every Sunday Pete would walk the distance from home to church. When services were over, we would ride back home and Pete would walk from church back home.

We returned from a vacation one year only to be greeted by the minister on Sunday morning with the words, "Well your dog was here, where were you?"

Even though we hadn't attended church, Pete had kept to his schedule and walked to the church where he sat on the steps until service was over. Afterwards, he returned home and proceded to make his usual patrol of the neighborhood.

He had a way of knowing who belonged where and who didn't. He even earned the undying gratitude of the crankiest lady in the neighborhood. She lived three doors down from us and was more than just a little upset at the idea that we had a dog......that was until Pete came to her rescue one night and chased off a bunch of creeps trying to break into her house. After that, nothing was too good for that dog.

He not only watched out for us kids in the family, but he also was protective of any child in the neighborhood. They all knew and loved him. In fact, Pete was friends with people we had never met before. Frequently we would go out for a walk and total strangers would wave and call out Pete's name.

We spoke of him as our dog but in fact, he belonged to the neighborhood as much as he did to us.

He was hit by a car when he was about 8 years old, but he recovered and continued his rounds for a good many years after that. It wasn't until he was older that he started having trouble with the leg that was injured. Eventually, he got to the point where he couldn't walk any longer and the pain was evident every time he tried to move.

We were faced with that same difficult choice that you had to make. I was very young at the time and I had a hard time understanding my father's decision. But in the end, I came to understand it was the right thing to do.

We had other dogs after Pete and I loved them all. But there was something very special about him. He wasn't the best looking dog you ever saw, but what he lacked in a pedigree he made up for in so many ways.

>From a fellow dog lover, Larry

[Larry Ward, ljward@tso.cin.ix.net]

Posted with permission .