I have had special relationships with all my dogs. Like the friends or life partners we choose, we form a more intimate and powerful bond with some of our precious animals. Although, I have loved many dogs since childhood, there were two that touched my heart so deeply that words could never describe. Before I rescued Mikey at two years old and was blessed with Molly at eleven months, Willard, a tri-colored English Setter was one of the most precious relationships I ever had with a human or canine. I have many humorous stories I could write about this delightful and loving dog, but I would write a book. Tri-color Setters are more difficult to find than those that are orange belton like Mikey and others that are blue belton. Willard was black and orange, but the black is dominant with a large orange marking on his leg. Although the color looks like black, it is referred to as blue. The one thing he asked for was never to shut the door so he would be unable to enter the room we were in. There is a saying that dogs are always on the wrong side of the door. For Willard this was catastrophic. When I first acquired him at 9 weeks he began working with my patients since at that time my private practice was in my home. I promised him I would not shut him out and he proved to be a wonderful therapy dog for kids and adults. Among many amusing stories, I will always remember when I got up to shower before beginning my day with my patients. Comfortably washing my hair and enjoying a refreshing warm shower on a cold winter’s day I suddenly heard a cry that almost shattered the glass door of the shower. Looking through the misty glass door, there was Willard crying and wailing. It never occurred to me that closing a door meant the shower door! He was in the same room with me so I thought I would hurry up before my eardrums shattered from his catastrophic wailing. My hair was still full of shampoo so I could not immediately leave the shower and this was certainly not OK with Willard. His screams continued to pierce my eardrums. I thought if I opened the door with the hot water and suds from the shampoo and conditioner, he would understand why I closed the door and harmony would return to our relatively peaceful relationship. I opened the door and to my surprise and alarm, Willard happily walked in the shower and sat next to me while getting soaked with water and shampoo. I quickly rinsed my hair knowing I had about 30 minutes to dry my hair and get dressed for my morning patient. Now I had the dilemma of blow-drying Willard and trying not to be late for a loaded schedule that day. We both left the shower and he sat happily on the bath mat soaked. Before drying myself I towel dried my little devil and barely made it to work after blow-drying both of us. After that he did adjust to the fact that I would not shower with him again, but despite the shower door, he never was on the wrong side of the door again!! This is one of my favorite pictures in our backyard. My son Kevie was taking photography in middle school and received a powerful camera for his birthday. I thought it would be fun to set up scenes with Charlie so I could experiment with this great camera before digital cameras and time or motivation to explore photography. Charlie threw on a velvety throw over his clothes, draped fabric over the chaise lounge and told me when his set was ready for my first shoot. Charlie’s mother had recently passed away and to make the photo more eccentric he put her earring on to add to the ambience and amusement of this unforgettable experience. Willard passed away when he was 10 years old and to this day I miss my wonderful friend. There are no words to describe how much I loved him. It is obvious that I have a deep love for all animals rescuing many dogs over the years. Today Mikey and Molly fill my heart and I could never imagine living without a canine companion preferring to have two to three dogs to enrich my life.