In 1996 I was getting ready to buy my condo and I was faced the reality that technically Sam really was Christine's dog and therefore when I moved, I would be dog-less. I purposely bought into a pet-friendly building, only problem was, I didn't have my own dog! And I wanted one!

About 2 months before I moved a friend called from out of the blue and said, "hey, you like those skinny dogs right?" Right. She had only seen Sam once but apparently he left an impression on her. Then she said she had seen an ad in the paper from the pound advertising a Female Whippet X. So I went and looked.

There she was all trembling and scared out of her little mind. What they told me was that she had been picked up on the street and nobody ever came and asked about her. She'd been there for 2 weeks and they were really hoping somebody would adopt her. She was a Whippet/Beagle cross and they guessed her to be about 5-7 years old.

I brought Sam along so that he could interview her which she passed with flying dog bones. Sam and her got along famously. No argument there. He became her 'big brother' and protected her fiercely.

She didn't come with a name so I called her Sunshine. My reason for that was I was going to live on my own, it was getting into winter and it was the beginning of my deep depression. I wanted Sunshine in my home whenever the days were dark. Little did I know just how the dark the days were going to be ahead but that's another story.

Sunshine lived with me for 5 years, she was a sweet loving little dog. She didn't bark unnecessarily and was the easiest little dog to take care of. She lived with me through the worst days of my life and just weathered life's storms with me.

Sam and Sunshine were always great friends and spent a lot of time together between the two homes.