My yellow lab had just died of an auto immune disease and I did not want another dog, but friends said I should just go and spend the morning visiting dogs at the rescue center. I could not believe the dog in the window! He was magnificent. He had just been brought in. They told me he was fine, but he was not. He was a Welsh springer spaniel and English Cocker and he had heartworm. My vet found buckshot in his chest when he x-rayed him. Clearly he was a working dog as he knew every command and performed it in a split second. Our lives together were too short. He developed anal adenocarcinoma, twice. The second surgery was not as successful. It spread. With love and good food he survived 16 months after getting a five week prognosis. We were one. He never took his eyes off me. Never. He became the therapy dog in the nursing home where I work, so we were together 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I never went anywhere without him. We were in love with each other and I miss him deeply. He was only seven when he died on July 25, 2020. The love of my life.

Janis Lasser
SAN ANTONIO, TX