Hurley and her sister, Sunny, were turned in by their owners who were unable to care for them. These 5-month-old heeler mixes are smart, affectionate and eager to please. They would thrive in active families and are prime candidates for agility training.

If you’ve never read the poem about the Rainbow Bridge, let me tell you briefly what it is all about.

When an animal dies, it goes to the Rainbow Bridge, where it always has enough to eat, it is never too hot or too cold; and it is never sick or injured. The animal spends its days playing in the sunshine until his human loved one comes to join him.

Happy Rainbow Bridge Remembrance Day.

Please forgive my self-indulgence, but I am taking advantage of this day to memorialize some of the many pets that have brought joy to my life and that wait for me on the other side of the Rainbow Bridge.

I was raised on 10 acres of woods in the middle of Frankenmuth, Michigan, farmland. We always had animals that were very much a part of my life.

Henry, the black cocker spaniel, was my first experience with animal rescue. A family friend had stopped by on her way to drop him off at the animal shelter. My mother couldn’t say no to her 4-year-old’s instant bond with the little dog, and my family was blessed by this sweet boy.

Henry’s best friend was Louis, a pure bred Irish setter that quickly outgrew my cousin’s apartment and ended up part of Uncle Paul’s menagerie. My mother has always claimed it takes seven years to get an Irish setter past the puppy stage, but I adored our beautiful, happy-go-lucky redhead.

Panther was the first of many cats I have loved. He taught me the concept of what we won’t do for the animals we love. When he came home after a night of debauchery, his jaw hanging, my mother and I took him to the veterinarian. She has since confessed she assumed the vet would euthanize our scruffy farm cat. She somehow hid the cost of the platinum pin used to repair Panther’s jaw from my father.

Morris, a big gold tomcat, slept with the dogs, rode the horses and suspiciously disappeared on the day we were to move to Alabama. After calling and hunting for him long past our scheduled departure time, we arranged for a neighbor to feed him, and we tearfully left without him. The family who bought our house fell in love with the old rascal, and he lived out his days on the farm.

Honey, a golden retriever-Labrador retriever mix, was adopted while my mother attended a church meeting. We had recently lost Liebchen, my calico cat, and my father thought it was time to get a puppy.

My mother’s last words on leaving the house were, “We don’t need a dog.”

My father and I went to an address advertising puppies “free to a good home,” and his only condition to adoption was that we get a male dog. When the owner handed him a female puppy, who snuggled into his neck, grunting softly, he announced, “We’ll take this one.” When my mother got home, she also fell in love with the fat, blonde fur ball sleeping under the couch.

Other pets included Dockit, a corgi/pomeranian mix with the heart of a mastiff; Muttikatz, the calico cat that terrorized children and mail carriers with his looks; Annie, the Tibetan spaniel that gave my father such joy in his last years; Ned, whose siblings, Andy and Grace, now occupy my feline assisted-living cottage; and Izzy, Comanche, Alley, Misty and Biscuit.

There’s also my sweet, sweet Buster, the border collie, circus dog, athlete and friend. To memorialize this very special dog, I am buying a brick to support the animal shelter. If you would like to memorialize a family member, furry or otherwise, contact the shelter or go to: http://www.brickmarkersusa.com/donors/alas.html

— Pets and the People Who Love Them is brought to you by your friends at the Athens-Limestone Animal Shelter. To adopt a dog or cat, please visit the Athens-Limestone Animal Shelter at 1701 U.S. 72 (behind Limestone Veterinary Clinic), view our Facebook page or call us at 256-771-7889.