Many years ago we lived in Southern California. I was at my hair dressers and a lady walked in with a box of puppies, I went over and picked up this little white pup; they weren’t even 6 weeks old;she was taking them to the vet. I called my husband to come down to see the puppy. The lady was looking for homes for 5 of the 8 puppies that were born to a stray black lab she had found. My husband and I decided we wanted the little white puppy, and named her Kona. We couldn’t bring Kona home until she was 10 weeks old, so we would go visit her on the weekends. We ended up taking Kona and one of her sisters which we named Bailey. They were great dogs, they grew up with my step kids around, they would play hide and seek with the kids. The girls would act like the dogs were horses and set up jumps for them. Kona and Bailey loved every minute of being with the kids. At around 9 years old Kona was diagnosed with lung cancer, we had the mass removed and she had chemo. Bailey was them diagnosed with cancer around her spine in her neck. We had surgery done on her, however she was never the same. Kona then had another mass in her lung which we had removed. Kona now had a clean bill of health, but her sister Bailey was going down hill as they couldn’t get all the tumor out of her; she was having a hard time getting up, Finally the time came when Bailey let us know she was tired, so we sat on the floor at the Vets office with her head in my lap and had her put to sleep. Before we did this I need to add in that we had adopted two other dogs from PAWS, so we had four dogs at this time. After we put Bailey down, it was like we lost Kona too, she was never the same, she was having trouble standing up, she was so depressed, and started going to the bathroom in the house. We waited six months, but she was getting worse and was so unhappy so we decided it was best for us to let her be with Bailey. I still miss those two girls. We had them cremated, and they moved with us to North Carolina along with the other two dogs, Reba a shepherd mix and Sophie a Rottie mix. They drove cross country with us in our truck. Both Reba and Sophie have had ACL surgery within three months of each other. I worry about them, and can’t stand the thought of having to loose them someday. I love all my dogs, they all have a special place in my heart. I have a saying taped to my computer at work “Dogs are Angels sent by God to watch over us.” I truly believe that, they are the greatest gift, so loyal and loving. My deepest sympathy to the Levine Family, I know how that loss feels. I still think about Kona and Bailey and miss them so much.

— Sharon from Denver, NC