Junie Too & Grace

Pictured: Grace with Junie Too

Junie Too: My Therapy Dog

After I had to rehome Junie Too (because he was so strong he could bolt when I walked him) I tried to find another yellow lab who did not jump fences!

One Sunday afternoon, two women brought an old yellow lab from a shelter two hours away.  He had been there for a year, but was well loved and cared for by the two women.

He walked into the family room, lay down on the rug and said, “I’m home!”

Thus began my journey with Junie Too – the third one- each named after my husband’s childhood name.

He was gentle, friendly, did not bark and stayed with me on our walks!

I got a big round pad for him and put it in the library where I worked to see clients.  He would greet people at the door then lie on his pad during our sessions, becoming my first therapy dog.

We had a routine at night.  He would go up the stairs at so I put upholstery pads on the steps to make it safer for him.  And he would sleep beside my bed.

As time went on, he was getting slower on our walks and I grew sad, knowing the end was coming.  One day he was sick and died in just a few hours.  I was very sad.

But he became the last of the yellow labs. 

I spent hours on the computer looking at labradoodles, facing that I needed a smaller dog.  I made a deposit with Crockett Doodles and waited seven months.  The first puppy they showed me was a beautiful brown labradoodle named Sugar!  My friend Don and I drove the hour or so to get her and he fell in love with her also.  Thus began a new chapter of my dog stories and a therapy dog also.  She loves to greet people at the door, watching on the screen in my library when someone comes on the porch.  She loves to greet them and shows them to the library.

Sugar is very smart.  She knows several words and remembers people who come.  She is also very sensitive.  If someone is sad, she is right on their lap, attending to them.  

The photograph for the cover of my memoir was one taken by Natalie Sinisgalli,  my neighbor and professional photographer who had the idea to take the photo of Sugar and me in my garden.

My life with dogs continues.  

Pictured: Grace with Sugar