Lots of dog stories. I adopted a puppy when I was 72. I am now 82 and she is almost 10. I likely will outlive her, but if I don’t, my older son, another dog-lover, will take her and use the money in my will to pay for her.

Previously we had a rescue spaniel who never got house-trained. He had been taken back to the pound twice before we got him and the third time would be his death sentence. So, after trying everything we could think of and had worked with other dogs, we removed the rugs and installed easily cleaned tile and hardwood floors in most rooms of the house. We cleaned up an awful lot. A very expensive, “free to good home” dog. After 10 years of this, he died suddenly at 12 + years old. His name was Lucky.