Randy was a once in a lifetime dog. He came into my life when I was living on my own in Dallas and was ever present through good times and bad. Half beagle and half wire-haired dachshund, he had the look of a mutt which suited me fine.

Randy saw me through many years full of accomplishments, disappointments and loneliness as I tried to navigate my path as a single working woman. He was patient when left hours on his own and always ready to jump in the car for a ride. We walked many miles together and he slept on my bed.

When I met and married Alan, Randy crossed the ocean with me to live in England. He survived six months of quarantine, which was mandatory in the United Kingdom then. The day he came home it was as if he had never been away, though he did get nervous every time he saw us packing our bags. Randy accompanied us on long walks in the countryside, field trips to county fairs and of course, to the local Pub.

A year after moving to England, we brought home a six month old Border Terrier from a farm in Cambridge. Randy was a little put out at first, but soon welcomed Rosie and seemed happy with her company.

On night, we opened the back door to let Randy out to do his business and he flat-out tripped over a hedge hog! This was very exciting for him from then on each time he went outside he hunted the hedgehog. He was, if anything, a very determined dog.

In 1998 we crossed the Atlantic again to Willow Park, Texas. Randy was well traveled by then and relocated along with Rosie with no problems at all. Thank goodness there is no quarantine in the U.S.A.!

Sadly, Randy’s life was cut short a few years ago. He suddenly developed a form of leukemia and after several days at the vets in intensive care with blood transfusions and all science could offer, we had to let him go. It was thus far, the saddest day of my life.

To me, a once in a lifetime dog enters your life at a pivotal time and effects you in ways that no other animal ever had or could. Randy did that for me. My life is better for knowing and loving him. I believe that many can readily name a once in a lifetime dog (or cat or horse). I hope to always have dogs in my life. I believe that they are the best of God’s creatures and can only hope that I can mean as much to them as they have to me. I don’t know if you can have a once in a lifetime dog, twice in one lifetime but I have my fingers crossed.

“If there are no dogs in heaven, then I want to go where they went.” Will Rogers, 1897-1935