I guess it’s been almost five years since Gretchen Pinkel entered my life and changed it. At the time, I was mostly alone at the farm, and I was in trouble in many different ways. And emerging from an especially lonely and confusing  – and very dark – winter. I saw a pamphlet for Kee-Pin Labs up at nearby Gardenworks and I often go and visit breeders and shelters and talk to the people I meet about dogs and the people who get them. I called Gretchen up and told her I wasn’t looking for a dog at the moment, but might be interested in a Yellow Lab at some point and Gretchen, who loves to know the people who are getting her dogs  invited me over for some cider and corn muffins. She has just had a litter and Gretchen, who is relentlessly low-key and gentle, does not try and push puppies on people, nor does she need to.

We sat outside, and I talked about my life with dogs, and my life, and she talked about her extremely arduous and conscientious breeding program – mentors, seminars, intricate knowledge of breeding, genetics and temperament, showing and competitions, not to mention the grueling process of birth, medical issues and acclamation. At one point, she brought out a black Lab puppy and I held the dog, and she came up and put her head on my shoulder, licked me on the chin, and went to sleep. I said thanks and left, and I thought if I ever want another dog, I’ll call Gretchen, because you can’t do better than that. Two days later I called her back and asked if that puppy was still around, and in those days, her puppies were sometimes available, at least for a week or so.

Two weeks later, I brought Lenore home. I always keep my dogs in crates when they first arrive, but Lenore made it up to bed on awfully cold and snowy winter night. I was desolate that night, and I remember Lenore coming to the foot of the bed as if she were born there, and before she fell asleep, I shocked myself by singing a Willie Nelson song about loneliness and love while the snow pelted against the windows and I wept.

I called her the Love Dog that night, and I wish I had words to tell you what that creature meant for me. She kept love and the idea of love alive for me, dark night after dark night, into the awful black hole that I fell. She made me smile every time I looked at her, and every time since, and she lifted my heart out of its cold space and filled it with light and warmth. I did not imagine that she would be the subject of one book, “Izzy and Lenore,” and then my first children’s book, “Meet The Dogs Of Bedlam Farm.” She is an ambassador of love and good will, spewing smiles and laughter wherever it is needed. I believe she began opening up the channel that ultimately led to my being able to find and love Maria. I know this process began with Lenore, who is a large dog now, and who hogs the food of the bed, but Maria and I both understand that whatever happens, she will never lose her place there. The Love Dog. So Gretchen also has a special place in my heart, because I’ve seen the kind of work – often unheralded – it takes to bring a dog like Lenore into the world. And into my life.

So thanks again, Gretchen.  You and John do good.