The online magazine Slate has an excerpt from “Going Home,” just up, the chapter called “Perfect Day,” in which a man offers his dying dog a perfect day as a way of saying goodbye. I also practiced a version of this with my Yellow Lab Stanley when he had congestive heart failure. It was very comforting for me, and offered a powerful memory.

Losing an animal is sad, but we can create some wonderful memories and experiences that will keep the spirits of our pets very much alive. They don’t have to leave us completely. Today: Noon talk at Open Door Books, Schenectady. Talk and signing, 7 p.m., Clifton Park Half-Moon Library.