Last week, I told the story of  Remington (we got the name wrong first time around, it isn’t Winchester), a beautiful black lab who came into Jean’s place with his beloved people, Bob and Diane.

Remington was Bob’s service dog, but he also belonged to the couple, who live in Bennington, Vt. and who came into Jean’s Place in Hoosick Falls, N.Y.,  a couple of weeks ago with Remington to have lunch.

The couple asked for permission to bring Remington into the restaurant, and Robin, our friend, and a waitress at Jean’s was almost insulted and said why, of course.

Dogs are much loved at Jean’s Place.

Robin was struck by Remington’s calm and poise, and by how beautiful he was. She could also see how loved he was.

When Robin asked if she could pet Remington, Diane started crying, and Robin asked why she was crying.

Robin is like that. She’s not afraid to engage.

Diane said they had just come from the vet and learned that Remington had a lethal and non-treatable form of cancer.

Robin said the older couple was stricken.

I should say that Robin cries every time she tells the story, she said Diane and Bob were the nicest people, and Remington was a sweet and beautiful dog.

When we came for breakfast last Saturday, Robin sat down to tell us this story, this circle of good, this story of the heart.

(Above, Bob, Diane, Remington, A Family Album)

It was not a good year, Diane told Robin, a few weeks earlier, their house burned down and they lost everything. But Remington’s cancer was “worse than the fire,” she wrote me. You can see the love they shared for their dog in this album photo they sent.

And Robin could see how stricken they were by Remington’s cancer.

Remington was Bob’s service dog and went everywhere with them; he was family in every sense of the word.

Robin remembered that a blog reader from California had purchased a $100 gift certificate from Jean’s for me, and I had given it back to Robin, telling her to use it to pay for meals for people who might need it more than me.

So Robin used some of it to pay the couple’s meal and saved some for other people. It was the best use I could imagine for the gift certificate (thank you, Eileen Peterson).

Yesterday, a friend of Diane and Bob’s e-mailed me from Vermont to tell me how wonderful Remington was, and how much Diane and Bob loved him. I asked her to contact the family and see if they might send me a photo of Remington.

It came this morning with a beautiful message from Diane telling me just how much  Remington meant to Bob and to her, and how much she loved the story about him.

This afternoon, Diane posted this message on my blog:

“The sad news is we had to put him down on November 13th Wednesday. Remington was limping more due to the bone cancer and we went to the vet and it was broken now, so we looked at each other and knew what we had to do. We made calls to our kids and grandkids and it wasn’t long and they were at vets to say goodbye. This was one of the worst movements for us. I would have to say it was worse losing him than our house. With that said, this story brought tears to us as I read it and I turned to my husband and said this story is about us. We love Jean’s Place and the people that work there, not to mention the food is awesome. Thank you again, Jon, for sharing this.”

(You can e-mail Bob and Diane if you wish at [email protected].)

Later, Diane added this:

“Let me tell you a little something about Remington. He went everywhere with us, he loved hunting and he would retrieve the ducks or geese for his father. He loves fishing with us and when we caught a fish he got so excited we had to hold him until he was off the hook so be could lick him and him goodbye. He was such a special dog. We will never find another one like him. Every place we went everybody loved him, it was hard not to.  Thank you for that beautiful story. He just turned six in October.”

Thank you, Diane and Bob, for your great hearts, and for the gift of this story. That’s one of the sweetest dog stories I’ve yet heard, and I’ve heard a lot. I hope to see you at Jean’s Place.

My heart goes out to both of you for the loss of a dog that meant so much. I hope you get your life back together, and I  hope you get another dog as wonderful as Remington. I promise you there are some.

I believe you will find another dog to love. People who love dogs that much should have a dog. Good spawns good and love spawns love.