Dutchess Marie was a very loved Family Dog but was very much part of our family. We first had gotten her out of an ad in the paper for a free dog. The owners took interviews of people and we was the only one who brought in the picture of our backyard and seemed to get on the ground to play with her. So we were the winners and she so won our hearts!When the children would play outside she would watch them and if they got too far away she would run circles around them and round them up closer to the house. When they were both in school she would sneak out of the fence and go visit the neighbors, this was sitting under a shade tree with an older woman who lived by herself or the gentleman down the street who would play fetch with, he was also widowed. And Micheal who lived next door who was 42 when we moved who was mentally handicapped would go in the afternoon if she was not home yet and find her bringing her back home both of them with smiles upon thier faces.

When we first moved to the country from the city she loved it, the creeks she would swim in and the wild turkey she would chase. People would shoot deere behind our house and if she found it she would drag it back to opur property to bury it, my youngest thought in sring baby deeres would pop up.We never did put her on a leash even in the city you could walk her and she would stay on our right side, but looking back I wish I would have. Dutchess was struck by a car in the middle of the night, and we did not know until morning. We buried her in one of her favorite spots with her blanket and half of a chew toy, the other half I carried in my purse in a side pocket for almost 5 years.When she was her on earth she would follow me room to room and even to this day sometimes you would here something bump the furniture or the side of the bed.