The following is an email I wrote after the line-of-duty death of my Urban Search and Rescue dog, Kinsey. About nine weeks after her death, I added some additional thoughts and some stories about Kinsey, as-well-as, a copy of an eloquent email from a friend. This is a very small tribute, because the story is far from complete. After all, I am…Forever owned by Kinsey.

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Mark, I know you feel about Sprite, and all of your pups the same way we feel about our dogs. The anticipatory grief, the disbelief, the horrible angst, the ultimate decision and the lasting void left in your life when they are gone. We adopted Olie, a pure bred Golden Retriever, when he was 19 months old from a family in our neighborhood who couldn’t keep him and give him the attention he deserved. Olie, rhymes with Goalie as in Olie the Goalie, was exactly what we were looking for in a first family dog. He was a dream come true. He was a mamma’s boy but shared his affections freely with everyone in the family. We knew the relative life exectancy of Goldens, and as you know a dog has a way of looking at you that tells your heart, “I won’t be here long, so love me like crazy.” And we did.

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I know for a fact, I could not live without my dogs. I have had many dogs but have never had to actually make that dreadful decision to have one put “down.” The first dog my husband and I ever had was a Siberian Husky named Keesha. She was so beautiful and sweet. We only had her about a year when she was stolen. It broke our hearts, but not like putting one down. The only dog we had for any length of time was the “one”. Csonka was an Akita, German Shepherd mix. We had him since about 4 weeks. He was the most gentle, sweetest dog I have ever known. He was a big “love giant” at about 110 pounds he always wanted to sit on your lap. The kids in the neighborhood just loved him. As he got older, the hip dysplasia set in. We knew that one day “it” would have to happen. But he was always so happy and he never complained. Then that dreadful day came back on April 21, 2007. He had some kind of seizure the night before. The next morning, he could hardly walk. The time was here. Mark, I just couldn’t even comphehend that he would never be with us. But, I also could not see him suffer any longer. My husband, Jeff, and I took him to the vet and had him sent to ” doggy heaven”. I truely belive that was the worst weekend of my life. After 13 1/2 years with us, and he was gone. We did have 2 other dogs to help with the grieving. But they too, missed him. We told ourselves that in about a year, we would thing about getting another dog. Well, on Memorial Day, we drove 3 hours to get a Border Collie puppy just so our other Border would have someone to play with. Even though we miss Csonka tremondously, Abby, the puppy has brought so much joy to our lives that we do believe that she was a god send. I bless you in all you do for our Country and I hope that others would find the love that dogs can bring to many lives.

God Bless,
Jill & Jeff from Ohion

In 1986 I moved into a house in Redondo Beach, Ca. with a grade school friend. After a few months we decided to get some dogs. We didn’t want to break them up because they were the last 2 in the litter so I took the female and he took the male. I named mine Moose and his was Logan. Anyway I moved back to Dallas and Moose lived for 13 years. She started to collapse and have trouble walking and the day of December 14, 1999 is one of the worst in my life because it’s the day I had to finally decide to have her put to sleep. For the next few months I couldn’t even think of getting another dog but one day my sister said she knew somebody with black lab puppies and I should go take a look. 9 years later I have my best friend Kelly sitting on the floor next to me while I type this and I can’t think what my life would be without her. She makes me laugh and drives me nuts and like I tell my friends with no dogs,”every boy should have a dog”.\

Paul from TX

Having been busy raising my three kids and my nephew back in the 70’s and 80’s,I ‘d never wanted a dog to care for,too..we “avoided” it for 14 years,substituting the “real pet” with fish, hermit crabs, gerbils,etc..one day, my daughter and I were in the mall, and popped into the pet store”to look,”and we were nearly safely out the door, when this perfect,black-eared Beagle,a “mini,” of the breed, simply cocked his head to the side, basically saying:”of course you’re not going to leave me here,”
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This is Smokie. He’s a 6 year old Chocolate Lab. He’s my buddy for sure. He loves anything that has water, riding on 4 wheelers, hunting, camping, and rides with me in my 18 wheeler cross country.

When I went to get Smokie, he picked me! He has 10 brothers and sisters Smokie understands what you tell him, he’ll retrieve anything you tell him to get. He’s a great companion.

Bill from OR