I do not want five dogs, and it is not easy having them, although they are all pretty great. But it is wonderful to have Pearl visiting for a couple of weeks. She is a dear, sweet soul, and she loves to sit on the front porch and look out at the world. Pearl is a champion show dog with the sweetest eyes in the world, and when she was done breeding, she had titanium rods inserted in her rear legs and she retired to my farm for a well-earned life of leisure. My daughter Emma pestered me for two years to take her, and I relented.

Pearl loves attention, and Emma loves to give it to a dog. So it has been a happy arrangement for both of them. Pearl is the toast of Prospect Park, Brooklyn. She is definitely getting on. She is slowing down, and her legs are beginning to bother her. She touches me this dog, really the best of what good breeders can do and yet I have to admit that when I look into those deep eyes I wonder how many more summers Pearl will get to spend on the farm. Nothing I want to dwell on, but nothing I want to hide from either. Pearl is in Autumn and I get the strange sense from her that she knows it as well as I do. She is a wonderful spirit.