My Dog Will Always Come Through

I'd never really even heard of an English Mastiff, but when I entered all my canine preferences into the online Dog Finder Quiz, this giant yellow dog kept popping up at the top of my list as a 100% match.

The Mastiff Rescue coordinator described the dog then named Goliath as "bulletproof," the dream adoptee, because of his sweet, calm temperament and better than average obedience. We drove six hours to a fosterer's home outside of Knoxville to pick him up, sight unseen. During the drive home, we decided to name him Finn, after the giant. And then he was ours.

I always told people who marveled at our 160-200lb. dog that our house was too small to have a dog any littler, that Finn was really more furniture than pet. But he was, of course, much more. You don't live with a man-sized dog because he matches the rug. He was our friend and protector, our babysitter and security system, our napping companion and neighborhood ice-breaker.

I'm not one of those people who would call a pet my best friend, let alone my "baby," but Finn was a loving, faithful member of our family. He could have easily killed us all had he ever taken the notion to, but instead he used his size to keep us warm and happy and safe.

We'll miss him very much.