Adele Ferguson

WELL, IT HAD to come; we had to have Jake put down.

I told you about Jake around National Dog Day. I got him June 29 when I was having lunch with friends and mentioned I was without a dog for the first time in years, having had a dog or dogs most of my life.

I had just had to have three dogs put down, Max, a Labrador who got a tumor that was pressing against his organs and causing him pain, Daisy, a Springer Spaniel with similar problems, and Eleanor, a little bitty dog with an advanced case of heart worms.

I promised my daughter no more dogs because she was the one who wound up having to take...