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Good Afternoon, I am writing to notify you that our pet, Hercules Gwin, has passed away.  We adopted him from you while living in Springfield VA in 2007.  About 5 years ago he developed diabetes and quickly went blind, but he remained an active, loving part of our family with the help of another rescue dog we added to the family, until this past Sunday.  His mobility was severely limited and the diabetes finally took its’ toll on our sweet boy.  Thank you for the chance to add this precious dog to our family.  He will be missed deeply, and will be in our hearts forever.

Sincerely, Kelly

June 1st would have been our dear, sweet, goofy Miles’s 15th birthday. He crossed the rainbow bridge on August 31, 2020 after a valiant battle with heart disease. It has taken us a long time to process his passing which explains the delay in writing this memorial.

We adopted Miles from A Forever Home on August 4, 2006 when he was only 8 weeks old. He was the smallest of the “Millie” litter (we decided to keep the name from his foster family) and looked microscopic next to his siblings. I still remember my parents skeptically asking me, “Are you sure that’s the one you want?” But as soon as I picked him up, I knew he was destined to be a member of our family.

Miles brought life to our household amid difficult times. Even if we had nothing to say to each other, we could talk about him for hours. The sounds of his paws click-clacking on the hardwood floors, his disproportionately booming bark from a 20-pound body, and the nonsensical conversations between him and us echoed throughout our house all day long (except during nap time, of course!)

From day one, we could tell that Miles was highly intelligent, but also extremely stubborn. This trait showed the most when we received his congestive heart failure diagnosis. The cardiologist prognosed that he had about six months left but our headstrong boy made it through a full one and a half years. Even the day before we put him to sleep he was galloping around refusing to give up the croissant he snatched from our grocery bag.

The past nine months have been incredibly tough. The house seems empty now without Miles’s “tippy-taps” or “kurkures” (the sound of him digging furiously on our furniture), especially during the pandemic. He truly was my best friend and companion who grew up and stayed by my side from coast-to-coast. We will be forever grateful to Miles for the 14 years he spent on Earth with us and will cherish every single memory he gifted to our family. Thank you, Miles, especially for giving me a reason to get out of bed each morning.

We adopted her as Carla on 2/29/2008 and named her Marley.  Her estimated date of birth was given to us as 1/1/2008.  She was a labrador/boxer mix born with brothers and sisters but we chose her because we loved her shiny black coat and kind eyes. We had her when we were a year married and then had 2 kids so Marley has been with us from the beginning.  She always loved to eat and run around and always had her tail wagging.  The last few days were hard to see because she could not walk as well due to her battle with arthritic legs and sarcoma.  It made us so sad seeing her not being able to eat when she was the best eater with her tail down between her legs which was nothing we ever saw her do.  We had to put her to sleep on 4/25/2021 with such heavy hearts.  Our whole family misses her very much.  We are so thankful for A Forever Home for giving us the wonderful gift of having Marley.

To A Forever Home – 

In 2007, I adopted a puppy that I named Isis (her original name was Gumdrop). For 14 wonderful years, Isis was my constant companion. We walked for two hours or more per day! 

Isis was part beagle, part whippet, so she loved to sniff and loved to sprint. She obsessively chased squirrels and frequently asked for snacks. She provided our family with lots of love and cuddles. 

Isis was sweet and gentle to the end. We said goodbye to her on April 2, 2021, but she will remain in our hearts forever. Thank you for giving us this wonderful gift!

Kathy