My son grew up with B.B., Bismarck and Butch so he also is partial to shepherds. He has had other dogs, but always a shepherd.

My son and his wife had three dogs for many years. Eventually the dogs got older and were replaced by another dog. Lucy came to live with them to join Ollie, a small dog. Those two became best buds. They both joined my son and his wife in a move from California to North Carolina. They all lived there for a year and then moved back to California. Both dogs came through both moves with flying colors. They lived in a rental for almost a year while my son searched for a home. Finally they all made a move to where they now live.

On July 4th a couple of years ago, there were beautiful fire works.  We humans enjoy watching fire works but most pets don’t like the noise because they don’t understand it.  Just as they become frightened during thunder storms, also with fire works. And fireworks usually last for thirty minutes or so and sometimes longer.

Ollie became extremely frightened while we were outside watching the‘works’. She ran to the back of the property, then came back toward the house. My son tried to catch her – to no avail. His property is entirely surrounded by a wall with a gate that must be opened  to be able to leave or back in. Because of her fear, she squeezed under the gate and ran down the driveway to the road where cars go whizzing by.

Ollie didn’t make it past the road. I would suppose because she had no experience on a road and also because of her overwhelming fear.

My son carried her back to the house and asked me if she was still living. I looked at her and felt her and said no, she was not. Lucy was right there watching and sniffing Ollie. She was right there while he put her in a box in the garage. She was there when the children came to hear the news. Lucy was there when Ollie was buried and watched as my son put a flat stone to mark the spot.

In the next couple of days, I noticed that Lucy would leave the room when my son entered and didn’t hang around the kitchen while my son was cooking. This was strange because she was usually wherever the family was. This went on for a couple of days until I was sure of what I was seeing. I suggested to my son that he talk with Lucy because I felt that she blamed him for Ollie’s death. After all, all she knew was that when he came in carrying Ollie, she was dead. He did talk with Lucy, explaining what had happened. At once, she accepted him again and spent time with him as usual.

But Lucy mourned for Ollie. She had always had the company of another canine. So on Sunday as we were leaving for church, my son was concerned how Lucy would fare being all by herself. So he gave her a bone to chew on   Well, she went straight to the door. He let her out but he followed her. She went straight to Ollie’s grave and laid the bone on the flat stone.

Some people claim that animals have no feelings, but no one can convince me of that!