Some of you will read this and, perhaps muse, this was just a dog. Others will understand the deep connection that some of us are lucky enough to develop and feel for an animal. Either way, I understand. For, in my life I have been both kinds of people. It was this dog that opened my heart to dogs, he showed me my truth, that we can indeed love these animals. I did the math this morning, in our fourteen years together Toby and I walked at least eighteen thousand miles. Sometimes he led and I followed, sometimes I was in the lead, but always he was my guide. He opened my world as well as my heart. And here closes anther chapter, a chapter in the life of one of luckiest people alive.