A stray mutt found by the dog catcher, Lucky had in every way earned his name. This golden retriever, lab, and hound mix was kept at the pound for a long time and no one seemed to want him. Sometime in 1990, however, my grandparents visited the pound in search of a new dog. After looking for a while, they saw Lucky being carried to the gas chamber. After asking a bit about him, they soon learned that he was about to be put to sleep. Not being able to live with knowing that they let a dog be put to sleep when they could've saved him, my grandparents decided to buy him, and were ready for the responsibility of taking care of him. That's when they decided that the name Lucky was perfect for him. Upon his arrival at his new home, Lucky was befriended by two cats: a tabby named Boots and a ragdoll named Fluffy. He and Boots eventually became the best of friends, and sometime in 1993 or 1994, my aunt bought a chihuahua named Vicky, who she soon gave to my grandma. For a while, Vicky declared herself the dominant dog over Lucky, and despite being one tenth his size, her loud bark told him not to mess with her, and to stay away from her bed and her food. After a while, however, the two dogs learned to get along, and Vicky stopped stealing Lucky's bones. Bones... Lucky's favorite snack. Though he didn't ask for them very much when I wasn't around, whenever I visited, he would gorge them down one right after another. On February 16, 1997, Lucky lost his best friend, Boots, and was seperated from her for a little more than six years. However, on February 25, 2003, exactly three weeks after the death of my hamster, Dixie, the arthritis that Lucky had been suffering from for the past few months worsened to the point where he had to be put to sleep. I didn't find out about it until the next day. The very night that it happened, however, I had a dream. In it, I saw Boots, who jumped onto my shoulders and cuddled the back of my neck. I then looked at Lucky as he suddenly turned into a dove and flew away. I felt unusually relaxed while I was having this dream, as though I was in heaven with Boots and Lucky... perhaps I was.