Thanks, everyone, for your kind thoughts. We've been keeping Kleenex in business today.

I'd like to share a little of her story. Four years ago, the family that she lived with since she was a puppy gave her up to the Colorado Italian Greyhound Rescue. They didn't even get out of the car--just drove up, signed the form, said she was a bad dog because of stealing food and having accidents in the house, passed her through the window, and drove off. She had been with them for 15 years, they said. (But she seemed younger.)

We got her some weeks later. She had had to have multiple teeth extracted so she had probably been in pain for quite some time. She had advanced kidney disease (which would explain her accidents in the house), she was hard-of-hearing, she had clear knots on bones in her ribs and below her left eye (like they had been broken at some point), and had some neurological damage around her left eye. She was so skittish that it was a year before she would not scamper away in fear when I reached down to pick her up. I learned to approach her by walking up beside her from behind. Once she was in my arms, she would happily stay there as long as I could hold her.

We managed the incontinence with trips home at lunch on workdays and pee pads. (She was good about using them.) And we never encountered issues with her stealing food. In fact, she seemed worried about taking something that belonged to us or our two poodles. We had to feed her in a separate room because she wouldn’t eat if she thought one of the poodles might want some. After a while, she got OK with eating in their presence. She was allowed to have as much food as she wanted (because she was so skinny and couldn’t keep weight on) where they were restricted to 2 meals a day. Even then, she would pick one or two kibble out of the bowl and set it aside for them before she continued eating.

We have a routine where, on Sundays, her wife makes pancakes and sausage. And all of the dogs get sausage pieces in trade for tricks. Pasha and Suki know sit, down, chill, and settle. Pasha also does rollover. We never made her learn to do things on command. We figured she had earned the right to be served and, besides, she was so unassuming that she didn’t require structure the way the other dogs do. But she did sit for sausage. In fact, she knew when it was Sunday and would campaign and hold out for chicken sausage. It was a clear favorite and a highlight of her week.

She enjoyed a good leash walk--more interested in movement than other animals or smells--and was kind to and patient with everyone she met. Although she didn't run very often, occasionally she'd get a spring her step and show us the kind of speed an Italian greyhound can really hit while enjoying the backyard on a summer day.

Italian greyhounds are often cold due to their physique and short hair. Her favorite place to be was where it was warm. We renamed her Miss Roo because she would bounce like a kangaroo on her blankets and pillows to arrange them just right. (We figured she wouldn't mind since she was mostly deaf anyway.) She would then nose her way under the blanket and spin it around until it looked like a cone of soft serve ice cream until her nose was the only thing visible. Our bed was her favorite place to be, second only to a patch of wooly thyme in the full sun in the yard. Of course, my favorite place was to have her near me. Her light brown coat was very soft, and she had a white diamond on the back of her neck where I would rest my hand. I'm so glad that her last couple of weeks gave her ample sunbathing opportunities after a long winter.