I apologize for responding to you so late. I am behind on everything. Kozmo will be upset with me. He is never upset with anyone, actually, except when I make him drop a possum from his mouth almost every night in the back yard. Ick!

It seems that your BFF, Jack, may be with my Sully. He left us in December 2014 and still my heart aches daily. He was a smooth Russel like Koz’s sister Abby and all white like Koz. He was terribly neglected and abused when he came to live with us when he was 17 months old. He couldn’t connect. I cried every day for an entire month because he just seemed unable to find peace which is very odd for a dog. We worked with him daily. It was as if he just wasn’t there. I don’t know how to explain it.

Then one day he climbed atop my chest while I was reading and snuggled his lovely white head against my neck and under my hair. I felt all the tension go out of his little body and he slept. I cried. But this time in gratitude.

He was my everything. He knew my moods and always made me laugh. He entertained everyone. He was a clown and smart as a whip but, best of all, that dog had empathy.

And I’m done. I can’t write anymore. He deserves his own story. I have written on for every dog we’ve had who has died for the JRTCA but I can’t write anything about Sully, still. I will, though.

Two days after he died, Abby disappeared. She had followed our daily walk, I believe, to find him. He had been here all her life with us. I found her in the greenbelt behind our home in the cold, shaking, tangled in vines hanging from a tree. She has never left again. She had never left before. She was horribly abused and has the scars to prove it. She suffers from fear aggression, canine PTSD. She was a wreck. Sully took her in and gently trained her. It was amazing.

Since Kozmo came, poor Abby regressed but she is not nearly as bad as she was before Sully patiently taught her to trust.

She was so elated, initially, to have another dog when we got Kozmo last October but soon she seemed to ask, “Isn’t he going to go back to where he came from?” he is the 1st Russell we’ve adopted who is just spoiled. He demands to get his way. I’m learning. He has a very sweet way about him, as did Sully. He will be great when he reaches 3 years of age and Kearns to stop bringing possums jnto our house and fighting with raccoons. He wants to play with them but they grow apples at him. He finds that very disrespectful!

Dogs can know us and love us unconditionally. They are a gift.

I look forward to reading about your Jack. I am so sorry your heart hurts because he is gone. He lives forever in your heart and that’s a great thing about a story: he will live forever there and we will all know him.

I wish you well.