Good friend Mary Erna wrote to tell us that Sandy, one of our favorite dog trainers at Dog School 101 in Atlanta, recently had to face the death of her beloved Charles, a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. Over the years, Cocoa has stayed with Sandy and Charles and Sandy’s other dogs a couple of times. Once while I was away in London, I received a  4 am call from Sandy telling me “they” were  home and Cocoa was doing fine. There’s a five hour difference between Atlanta and London but that did not matter. As I laid down to go back to sleep, I couldn’t help but smile. My dog was safe with Sandy and her dogs. She would go to Dog School every day and pretty much spend a couple of weeks being nothing less than a “Teacher’s Pet.”

When I told Cocoa that Charles was now in doggie heaven, she sighed and said, “I’ll miss him, Mommy. He was a very special dog.” We’re both sorry for your loss, Sandy.