“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don’t know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring–it was peace.”

-Milan Kundera

A year ago this Friday, we rescued this beautiful Black Lab/Mastiff (we believe) mix from the Briarcliff SPCA. We had originally gone to the shelter to look at another dog that we had seen on their website, but something just didn’t feel right about him. As we waited to look at another dog, this guy here calmly walked up to the front of his cage, sat down and proceeded to lick my hand through the metal bars and I will freely admit that he had me right then and there. We took him for a walk and the decision was an easy one-he was coming home with us.

Little did we know that this had been  his plan from the first minute he saw us. I am convinced that Jase knew that we were the family that should have the honor of adopting him. Only a dog owner can truly  understand what I am saying when I say that he chose us. He has brought a great deal of joy to our lives as well as some trying moments. But that all comes with having an almost 80 pound dog that thinks he is a lap dog and (at the time we adopted him) was only 11 months old.

As his second birthday approaches, I can only imagine the hikes that he will take us on, the rides we will take and the pleasure that he will continue to bring us for many years to come. Truly man’s best friend.