Three GOOD Dogs

This picture fell out of the rubble on my desk last night -- three of the best, all now gone to Dog Heaven. That's D in the lead, being the youngest girl of the group, then Sophie, then Roni (Veronica). Since my last post generated more responses from my vast readership than do most, I thought people would like to see this picture of a picture.
Roni was a white German Shepherd-wolf mix, 120 lbs., golden eyes, and a super sweet disposition. Scary looking, but a lamb, unless you were swimming in Boone Lake with her. She loved to swim and would come right at you, paws scrabbling. I found the best way to manage that situation was to reach out my arms, grab her, turn her around (easy to move 120 lbs. when they're floating), and then hold on to the fur on her sides for a nice tow. On the shores of the lake she'd look at your eagerly, poised and ready for you to pick up a piece of shale and pitch it out into the water. She'd catch a piece of rock in her mouth, give it a few chews, then spit it out and ask for the next one. She'd go after sticks, too, but rocks were her specialty. At the beach, she'd thunder into the waves, fetch sticks, and swim.
Sophie HATED the beach, wasn't much for swimming and hated the heat. She wanted to run up into the dunes and flush out small wildlife. One night while Rob (Roni's person) and I were sitting by our campfire at the edge of a swampy bit of the maritime forest behind the dunes, Roni and Sophie, both leashed to trees because that was the park rule, bolted suddenly into the swamp after a raccoon, breaking their leashes.
On one late evening walk down the beach, the dogs, who were off-leash (oh no!) suddenly raced up over the dunes and disappeared for a few minutes. Shortly, we heard eerie, loud squealing cries which subsided after a minute or two. We never found out what they'd caught that night, but they definitely violated the island's wildlife.
Congratulations to Rebecca and Michele, who have made a fine choice of dogs and now have a German Shepherd, who will be their best friend for many years, if all goes well. You will never regret your choice!