About 13 years ago we lost our quiet, gentle, rescued collie.  At that time, my husband and I didn’t want another dog.  After six months of resisting the thought, we decided to move on and started looking for a little dog with short hair. As a volunteer that bathes incoming dogs at a shelter, I see a lot of the dogs coming in. Over my time there, many sweet dogs passed through my hands but were adopted before we put our application in.

One day the perfect dog for us came in.  She was small, brown, and had short hair.  She was also very scared.  I looked into the warmest brown eyes and told her that I was going to come back for her.  As soon as we were done bathing her, I immediately went to the adoption desk and completed the paperwork to adopt the small brown dog, named Kelly. She was 7 months old and had stayed in the corner of her cage all night.  So down we went to bring Kelly home and begin a lifetime of love for a special dog.  

We don’t know why our relationship with this dog was so different from the other dogs that we’d had, but it was.  We thought maybe because our children were all grown and out of the house, and it was just her and the cats.  Or was it because we took her on vacation with us, to the beach, to the mountains and to visit friends.  Maybe it was because she was the only dog we ever had that slept in the bed with us.  Whatever it was, it was very special and filled with love.

Almost 12 years to the date that we adopted her, we had to have her euthanized when she developed acute renal failure.  Our love for her was so great that we knew it would be very painful for us to let her go, but we also loved her so much that we knew we had to set her free.

Our hearts were broken and I still cry when I think of her and when I look out onto our backyard and see her grave. Her joy and love of life is greatly missed.  I know that one day we will play fetch again.  I know that her heart was mine and my heart belonged to her. 

By  Diane Friske