After school, she and the kids made some last, slow jaunts and we all spent some time out in the sun. We brushed her, we petted her, we combed her, we talked to her. Shannon knew she was ready to die. We, her family, knew that we should not keep her alive any longer. And she knew that we had, finally, decided.
Dogs can be so interesting, and so curious, and so sensitive.
People, I think, could learn a lot by looking at the ways canines fit into the society of humans. We all realize that the body of no earthly being lives forever. Alaska, with its two great sled dog races, has been at the center of a national and international debate concerning treatment of the dogs. Both the Iditarod and Yukon Quest have had to make significant changes to meet public demands. Probably without exception, sled dogs in those races eat better and have better living conditions and medical care than do millions of people on our Earth today.