How we love our pets.

Maybe the recent recalled pet food scare, and in some cases, the tragic aftermath, contributed to this column today.

Or maybe it is watching my neighbor struggle with the declining condition of her magnificent German shepherd, who now wears a body brace but who still barks with gusto and adores his mistress. She faces a difficult, inevitable decision.

My son's fiancee gave him a puppy for Christmas. His name is Lambert (yes, for Steeler Jack Lambert), and he is a Boston terrier/beagle mix.

I have been without a pet by my side for two years. But now I have a grandpuppy.

I still have the love in my heart, but the responsibility at my age overwhelms me. I've gone to a shelter more than once and come home alone.

Still, if anything could persuade me to try again it might be the television commercial for Pedigree, which shows dogs and cats in shelter cages, pleading with their eyes, the tag line being "I just want to go home."

Don't laugh, but I actually got teary watching "Legally Blonde II," a comedy, which primarily had fighting for a Chihuahua's mother's life as its plot. In the nation's Capitol no less!

The mama Chihuahua and other animals were in a lab where they were being used to test cosmetics for humans. Pretty-in-pink Reese Witherspoon was the heroine. She and her Chihuahua wore matching pink pillbox hats!

I told you not to laugh.

Then there is the Good Life pet food commercial that just makes me smile with its clips of pets being coddled and loved.

And that cute Lab puppy chasing the roll of Cottonelle tissue. I'm a goner. That's because I often baby-sit my neighbor's blond Lab, Bailey, who should have her own commercial as the best behaved animal I have ever known.

Which brings me to my point, in a round-about way.

We love our animals, and we miss them when they are gone.

Marcia Ferguson of Aliquippa is missing her miniature dachshund, Snitzel.

She has penned such loving thoughts to me about her deceased pet. I want to share a few of them:

"I would often tease her," she writes, "and ask her if her mama knew how pretty she was because her eyes seemed to have black eyeliner around them.

"Her proportions were exquisite, and Dad would hold her front paw in his big hand and say, " She has beautiful paws."

"If you have ever had a dachshund," writes Ms. Ferguson, "you know they are strong-willed, curious, incredibly loyal, very intelligent and quite comical. She made me laugh a million times. When I cried she would lick the salty tears with great concern and care. And when I was sick, she would look at me and demand very little from me. She always knew."

Snitzel's favorite toy when she was young was a green beanie baby froggie, which she treated as her baby. It eventually had to be to be taken away from her, she was so protective.

As a puppy, Snitzel was mauled by another dog. Her mistress credits Dr. Ashby Marshall, her vet for 13 years, with saving her life.

"It changed her personality, and she was afraid of other dogs after that. She was incredibly devoted to my Dad, and he liked having her tucked in beside him in his chair.

"Snitzel was dear to each of us," says Ms. Ferguson, "including my Mum. No chef could have done a better job as we tried to figure out what food would tempt her to eat near the end.

I picked just a few memories from Ms. Ferguson's letters, but there will be more. She's writing a book.

"I had told Snitzel that my novel will have a red dachshund in it, based on her of course -- silly, sweet, beautiful, impish. If I write it with half the love I feel for her, I have no doubt readers will say the wiener dog is one of the most unforgettable and enjoyable characters of the book.

"Hugging her furry body helped me through the tough times. She was a steady, uncomplicated and loving rock. I've been the lucky one."

I was chatting with a check-out counter attendant at Whole Foods the other day. Between items being tapped into the computer, the subject of pets came up. She said she has two cats and a dog.

The woman behind me added she had just gotten their first cat after being a longtime dog person. We marveled that we had each had a springer spaniel.

And the conversation continued as we all compared notes about pets we had or once had.

We had been strangers just moments before. Love for our pets, for that moment, made us friends.

That's what our animals do. And they ask for nothing in return. Well, maybe love.