The first couple weeks she seemed to do whatever you would want a dog to do. There were no issues at all. We went for walks, everybody petted her, she was calm. As we were coming to the end of those first two weeks, you could see she was getting more nervous on the walks until one day she bolted down the block to our house and after that she decided she didn't want to be anywhere she didn't feel safe and somewhat enclosed. For example, getting her out of the car to go to the vet was very challenging. At one point two techs had to come out and carry her in (she weighed about 125). It took me months to get her out of the car to go into the dog park and be comfortable. Then she loved it and once jumped out of the car before I could get the leash on her -- very unlike her.

There are so many memories but mostly, Vivian is my new beginning -- I don't want to make it past tense. I had had a pet for 25 years -- cat, dog............usually in multiples. In 2004 my husband had passed away and at that time I had several dogs. People would ask me, aren't you lonely? I would always say no and somewhere thinking "why would I be"? In 2014, I lost the last pet and was actually alone for the first time in 25 years. I remembered people asking me about being lonely and realized that I finally understood. Within 6 weeks I brought Vivian home. She helped me start over by being the perfect dog. There wasn't a person that didn't like her. I know everyone says that but with Vivi, it was really true.

So many memories in such a short time. A beautiful soul. A beautiful baby. She snuggled so close to me that any closer she would have been burrowed underneath me. People made fun of such a big dog sleeping on the bed but to me it was a comfort. She was that big lap dog. She was quietly and sweetly assertive. I brought a cocker spaniel -- Rusty - into the house and she was willing to share him laying on the couch with the two of us. But then he seemed to be taking over the couch. So she started putting her paws on the couch between me and Rusty, stand there until the little guy left and then she left. She wanted the front seat in the car and if he was there, she would stand between the two front seats and stare down at him (like Snoopy sometimes does in Charlie Brown) until he moved so she could get in the seat.

She came to me as the perfect partner to help me start over. One last story.....although there are so many more.....when she came home I had several stuffed animals around and one day I came home and one of the eyes was out of one of them. I put it back in and the next day, it was out again. She eventually chewed the eyes -- just the eyes -- out of the several stuffed animals I had around. She didn't chew the rest of the animal up.

I may have had sad times over the years but my heart has not truly, truly broken since my husband died......until now.

Please also visit Dellaney June.