DENVER -- September 16, 2008

I am too young to be this sad. I mean, really too young.

Madeleine the Greyhound, our lovely velvet dog, my mentor and assistant puppy raiser, has gone to the rainbow bridge. I'm sorry that I won't benefit more from her wise counsel during my formative puppy months. Marianne tells me she helped train all five pups before me, plus dozens and dozens of other CCI pups that came to stay at our house over the past 7 years.

I can't think of what else to say, nor can I improve on what John wrote about her last night:

"Born in April, 1997, she was foolishly named "Jaaz TomandCathi" (aka"Tom Cat") on her registration papers. She raced once. We don't know what happened, but we believe she may have gotten distracted by something and stopped and turned, causing a 10-Greyhound pileup, or she simply wasn't interested in running after a mechanical bunny. Her short racing career ended and she was placed with Colorado Greyhound Adoption.

She came into our lives on March 29, 1999, and was immediately renamed Madeleine J'Ingle McKiernan, in honor of author Madeleine L'Engle. She was a lovely pet, a velveteen dog, a beautiful backyard runner, a careful guardian of the cats in her life, devoted to her stuffed bunny and more.

She won "Longest Female Greyhound" at the 2001 Colorado Greyhound Adoption picnic (and they didn't even measure her full, lengthy tail, which stayed intact to the end of her life, unusual for many Greyhounds).

She was a regular blood donor at the Wheatridge Animal Hospital Blood Bank, the area's largest 24-hour veterinary blood bank, until she retired at the mandatory age of eight.

She was an Assistant Puppy Raiser for Canine Companions for Independence, supervising Trevin II, Stryker I, Rolly II, Hudson IV, Parker II, Ross VI, and numerous other CCI pups that came to stay for puppy trades or puppy sitting.

She was a cancer survivor.

She is now off to run free, rejoining a variety of friends, taking a large part of our hearts with her."

Mine too. Chow for now.

Ross

Would you like to adopt your own Velvet Dog? Go to Colorado Greyhound Adoption.

Questions or comments for Ross? Send him an e-mail!

Would you like more information about Canine Companions for Independence or perhaps to be a puppy raiser? Call 1-800-572-BARK or go to CCI for details.