Preparing for the voyage
My wife and I were blessed to have a wonderful, playful boxer named Texas. My wife had raised him since he was only six weeks old. He never left her side and faithfully slept at the foot of the bed with her pink bathrobe each night. When my wife was diagnosed with ALS and had to be moved out of our bedroom and into a hospital bed, Tex still slept right by her feet for six whole months even though he barely fit. My wife was eventually moved to hospice and when I brought Tex to visit her he hopped right up onto the bed and put his paws on her hand. That night Tex was restless and chose to sleep on the floor. When I woke up the next morning I discovered that Tex had passed away after covering himself with my wife’s pink bathrobe. My wife passed away the next day from the ravages of ALS. At the memorial service people told me that Texas knew my wife would shortly be taking a voyage of no return; and that he loved her so much that he went ahead to prepare her for the voyage and be her faithful companion and give her comfort like he always did. —Jim Sherrard
Always keeping guard
My dog Cela was always watching out for everybody else. One particularly windy night when I was letting Cela and her brother Gany out before bed the back door swung open without me noticing. Our indoor cat ran outside and Cela, knowing that she wasn’t built to face the outdoors, ran after her. She herded the cat back indoors even though she’s not a herding dog and was never taught how to do that but instead sprung into action when she knew one of her family members was in danger. —Kaethe Mentrum
A new life for our family
After my 12-year-old son passed away from leukaemia, my husband brought home a collie puppy that we named Charlie. At first, I resented how full of life he was, but I slowly started to warm up to him. He would jump up on me and bark, and if I ever became angry he would lick my face. He helped me get out of bed and get back to normal. He would go skiing with my husband, play with my son, and was a great companion to my dad. Therapy was recommended for my family after my son died, but we didn’t need it, we had Charlie. —Charlene Wexler