I picked up this book recently and admit I’ve only just started it, but it already speaks to me. I find myself meandering through all the dogs who have shaped my life. I love my kids a lot but the dogs I’ve loved a lot too, and when it comes to unconditional love there’s nothing like a dog. Yes i have had wonderful cats too, and even a few chickens, but this is about the love of a dog.

When I was a boy, Gertie was my dog. She was a little brown rescue dog and she went everywhere with me. I have memories of riding my bike in the neighborhood with Gertie sprinting alongside.

Then there was the Moose. Her real name was Bridget and we adopted her when we went to a benefit fair and people were invited to put a bid in a box for the cute little puppy there. Dad put a $5 bid in just to keep us quiet and figured he’d never hear again. It turned out his was the only bid, we got the puppy and she grew a hell of a lot bigger than anyone thought…she was indeed a Moose.

Dad also adopted Winston. Winnie was an obvious name for mixed bulldog of sorts. He was a sweet guy, and a very credible swimmer. I can’t picture our house in Harvard, Mass without seeing Winnie. When he died, Dad cried and buried him on their property in Stonington Maine.

These were a long time ago and I certainly don’t have digital photos of them.

We fast forward, skipping the dogs of my college years, Vic and Dammit (never was there a better name for a dog than Dammit. “come here, Dammit!”).

Betty was a lovely golden retriever – also a rescue dog – that joined us shortly after we were married and moved from New York City to Weston, CT. My wife was initially nervous about being out in “the country” and Betty was there to provide protection (?) or at least company. One night while I was away on a business trip she called me in panic – a family had been attacked in a neighboring town and Dale was upset to be home alone. I reminded her that she had Betty for protection now. “But they killed the dog too!” oh well. Below is Betty with Katie, who is now 37 years old. Doesn’t she look like some serious protection?

Shortly after being married and having kids, we were in Florida visiting my wife’s parents. We took the kids to a playground and there was this very scruffy pup, covered in fleas, on his own and clearly abandoned. After looking around fruitlessly for an owner, we took him home. We had no idea how to get rid of the fleas so took him swimming with us and the fleas all jumped to the pup’s head , to be above water- it was pretty gross, but we got rid of them. He flew home in a box at our feet in the plane and became my daughter’s best friend. A few years later I accepted an overseas assignment from IBM and we all moved to Sydney Australia. What to do about Scruffy? – he wasn’t allowed to come with us! Fortunately Dad had room at his home in Maine and in his heart and agreed to take in Scruff while we were overseas. We lived in Australia for 3 years, which turned out to be long enough for Dad and Scruffy to become the best of inseparable friends. Dad fretted about what would happen when we returned home to USA as he would be awfully sad to let Scruffy go. He knew that Scruffy was Katie’s dog and didn’t want to disappoint his granddaughter, so…what to do, what to do.? We had a good honest conversation with Katie about letting Scruffy stay with Grampy and she was awfully mature about it. Scruffy was Grampy’s best friend and she could see the importance of that. Scruffy became Dad’s dog. This is Scruffy – the naming was pretty obvious. He went everywhere with Dad.

Of course that meant we needed to visit the pet adoption agency in Connecticut once we moved back home. This is when Addie joined our family. Adelaide was a cross between a ridgeback and a pit bull. She was just a puppy but the agency, PAWS, said that family had returned her because they said she was too aggressive. We played with her at PAWS and could see that he was just playful – some people just don’t understand dogs, confusing play with aggression. Addie was Katie’s new best friend. She was a wonderful dog. She grew big as her breed predicted and people would be scared when they met her or heard her huge bark, but of course she was the sweetest girl you could imagine…just very big and strong. Addie only made it about 8 or 9 years though – she suffered from something that made her stomach flip – it happens to horses and sometimes to large dogs – and was awfully painful. When I took Addie to be put to sleep it was one of the saddest and worst days ever. I still flash back to it every so often. It was the first time I can remember going through it. The vet asked me if I’d like to come back into the surgery to say goodbye to her and I did. She lifted her head when she saw me and I cried and then left when they completed the deed. I learned a lesson that day – never would I be anywhere but at my dog’s side when the time came to say goodbye. They deserve it, after all the love they gave us. Poor Addie. The memory is seering. Here she is…

We have had many other dogs since – Jasper, Billie, Court, Rooney, Surrey, Gimli, and Gracie. I will cover a few of my favorites.

Jasper was a little guy we adopted while living in England (see below). He was a good buddy. He went running with me most days, made tons of friends and lived to a ripe old age of 17. This was the first time we had someone come to the house to assist with putting a pet to sleep. It was the best way…we were there, he knew it and we had a chance say goodbye and have a good cry. Jasper was a sweet little guy.

I’m going to skip to Surrey and Rooney, our adopted rescue labs. Dale used to spend time on websites like “adopt-a-lab” which identified labs from down south (why so many down there?) who needed homes and could be transported north. Apparently black dogs are the least popular to be adopted..because they don’t photography well. It doesn’t seem quite fair. Dale chose this beautiful black pup.

We named her Surrey, after the place we had lived in England. There was something special about this dog. She was sweet, quiet, and loved people above all else. She was a star with a tennis ball and would play catch all day if you had the patience. Her very favorite thing was to chase snowballs in the winter; they were like cold, wet white tennis balls. She was Will’s dog (my son) and grew up with him. When Will started his kayaking business in Maine, Surrey became the face of the company. She trotted up the hill to greet every customer and they all became besotted with Surrey

Surrey was so sweet that Dale decided to adopt another lab. She went back on Adopt-a-lab and chose a yellow lab pup this time. She was not as young as Surrey – she was about 6 months old. You know what happens when you first one behaves so well that you have a second one? Ya, the next one is the child from hell.

Rooney must have had some kind of terrible history. We will never know what it was, but it must have been bad. Dale arranged her adoption to be a surprise, and it sure was. We met the van that had transported a variety of dogs from somewhere down south (again) She was dirty, smelled awful, was skinny and as unattractive as a yellow lab could be at 6 months old. She peed in the car on the way home. This photo was taken well after we got her cleaned up.

This dog had clearly never had someone to love her and she had never learned to love a human before. For months she misbehaved, acted out, was difficult to walk on a leash, etc. It was the closest I have ever come to saying that we can’t manage this and we might have to give this dog back somehow.

It seemed to take forever, but of course she finally responded and began to trust us. The vet called her a “kook,” and that was quite right. She had a goofy personality, but she became a lot of fun. She swam in our swimming pool after every walk – it was her pool. If the 5-foot gate was closed, she astounded us by leaping over it. This dog was quite athletic. She ignored tennis balls, but would play with a soccer ball. I am pretty sure we came up with her name (Rooney is named after Wayne Rooney) first but she took to it. She was bullheaded and had ball skills like her namesake. Of course we went through a lot of soccer balls that somehow ended up deflated after she played with them. Rooney adopted goofy positions to sleep, but she hung out with us….and she loved Surrey. They became true sisters. Surrey was the good twin and Rooney was the one who acted out. Rooney became my best girl, and I loved her. She could still be very stubborn, and often would only obey me. I secretly loved that. Here we are together. She was beautiful.

Rooney was an incredible swimmer. In Maine she would chase a stick as far out as you could throw it. She would follow you in a kayak for a long way and you eventually had to turn around to bring her back for fear that she would never give up. When Will started his kayak company, Rooney was not permitted to come and join Surrey to greet customers. You never knew if she’d jump on someone or follow them all the way out of the cove.

Surrey and Rooney were a real pair. They loved each other, they slept together, and they were as different as night and day when it came to personality. Tennis ball versus soccer ball. Surrey was a terrible swimmer (she swallowed sea water and that became gross diarrhea). Surrey was sweet and always aimed to please everyone. She cared little about other dogs…except Roo. Rooney loved everyone too, but was bullheaded and stubborn right to the end. She loved to sit in the mud, mess up Mom’s garden and was always (always) dirty. One of Will’s friends just called her “dirty girl,” in an affectionate way.

Eventually the labs slowed. I wanted them to live forever. At 12 years, Rooney was diagnosed with a tumor in her chest. The vet said the x-ray showed it was close to her big old heart and that she probably had 3-6 months to live. The x-ray also showed that there was a bb lodged in her chest, giving us our first hint of her life before we got her. I was devastated….but Rooney was just too stubborn to give in. She lasted almost 2 years until that tumor got so big that she couldn’t eat properly. She wasted away but she was alert and tough right to the end. We finally knew that the end had to come. Below is her last day before we brought her to the vet. We brought her to the kayak company one last time to say goodbye to everyone. Here she is with her sister.

We were with her at the end, patting her while we wait for her big strong heart to give up. Oh boy did I cry. It was the day before my birthday, We have a memorial to her right in the middle of Dale’s garden, where Rooney used to mess it up. After she died, my daughter told her husband who said “she was a good dog.” Katie replied, “no she wasn’t. she was never a good dog.” Too true, but we sure did love her. It made me laugh and cry at the same time.

Surrey lasted another few months, but she also give in at 14. It was February and until the last day or two she was still chasing snowballs, her absolute favorite thing. She couldnt jump or run but she would catch a snowball thrown to her. We called Will and told him to come home as it was time to say goodbye. We scheduled for a vet to come to our house. Will wanted to take Surrey to the ocean one last time though, so we picked her up and put her in the car. We drove to the ocean and put her in a wagon so we could let her see and smell the sea one last time. The next day we said goodbye. I’m crying again just writing this. Surrey and Rooney were 14 years old, which is a good run for labs, but oh god they left a hold in our lives. So many things we did with them are now just memories. How can dogs have that much effect on our lives. Here they are, one last time for you.

I can’t end this on that note, of course, and anyone who knows us realizes thats not the end. Even before we lost Rooney and Surrey we adopted two others. First was Gimli. He is a little yellow scruffy terrier type thing. I had told Dale that I didn’t care so much for small dogs, but…..this guy had been rescued from the streets in Mexico City. Someone else in our town in Ct brought him to the USA to live with his elderly mother. That was a dumb idea – he was just a pup with a lot of energy, too much for this poor lady. So Dale said “we’ll take him.” Here he is, or was.

He was really little. We named him Gimli after a character from Lord of the Rings, a red-bearded dwarf. He’s grown a bit now and gotten chubby, but also very fun. He’s kind of sensitive and needs a lot of cuddles. He likes to be touching someone all the time, especially at night. Rooney taught him to swim and Surrey taught him to chase tennis balls and sticks. He was just a little add-on to the family, until we adopted Gracie.

My kids call them the Dumpling Twins now that they are best mates. Gracie’s story starts in Brunswick, Maine. Her mum loved her but decided she needed a new home. She had gotten divorced and had a fulltime job. Her teenagers weren’t really into Gracie so she put her up for adoption. Dale saw it and we went to visit. We pulled into the lady’s driveway and let Gimli out first – they ran around in circles playing together and the decision was made. We had two dumplings.

So now we have two dogs. We used to have four, until we lost the labs. I’m still awfully sad when I think about the labs but so glad that we have the dumplings. They are fun to walk with and play with and they are very friendly. Gracie seems to love everyone and makes a great impression. Small dogs aren’t so bad.

Bottom line we love our dogs. I could add Jack’s dog Rusko and Katie’s dog Mogul and you’d get the photo below. We love them all and I couldn’t imagine living without them. From left to right below: Surrey, Rooney, Mogul, Gimli, Gracie, and Rusko. this was a rare occurrence to be able to walk them all, and of course now we have lost the gals on the left…but they will always be a part of us.

No matter how difficult and painful it is to lose them – they just don’t live as long as we do – it’s worth it. They give us the most unconditional love we will ever find, delivered by their own unique personalities.