This comes so late but thank you all for your loving support with the passing of our companion, Atlas. Already a month has gone by and of course, we still miss him greatly.
Funny how when they are no longer with you, you can forget all the times they cat walked across the top of the fence to get into the neighbor's yard (who was terrified of dogs, let alone big boy ones), or how every chance they could they'd dart out of the yard and off for a run of the neighborhood. Not that they didn't love you, but they just wanted to explore more of the world. Even the fact that you couldn't really walk them because they pulled so hard that you couldn't stand, forget walking. Or how to keep them in your yard with the 6 foot fences and safe and not getting in trouble or picked up by the pound or scare the hell out of someone, you, with had to with the heaviest of hearts, chain them. Not something you ever wanted to to. And they would break the chains, even the cable ones, until finally they got old enough to not want to climb the fences.
No, the things that stay with you are the look of their loving eyes, the contented sighs when they know that all is well and they are there, right there where they want to be ...with you. You remember all the wonderful things... the feel of their fur, the smell of their breath, the quality of their barks letting you know there was something interesting in the yard or the deep full barks warning someone to stay away, that they shouldn't be there. You remember the warmth, security and love you felt from that big, generous heart and the deep contentment it was to have him lay down next to you when camping.

You remember the love that flowed back and forth, building, between you. How they made the world just that much better by being there.

Thank you all, again for sharing this time with me. It means a lot.
You have all left imprints on my heart.