Winston was found wandering the streets of Los Angeles and followed a woman and her two dogs home. She tried to find the owner for 4 months to no avail. During this time, she took him to the same Dog Daycare I had taken my previous Golden to and within a week, 4 people, all six degrees of separation, called me about this wonderful Golden Retriever who needed a home. Not sure if I was ready to have another dog, I decided to visit the Day Care and take him for a walk. He was a BIG boy! 85 lbs.!! The following week I made the decision to take him for a weekend to see if we were a "fit". He never went back....we were in love!!

Over the next year I came to realize that Winston was a precious "old soul" and had something very special about him. Cool, calm, collected and had a knack of almost reading your mind. I decided to look into Pet Partners and training him to be a Therapy Dog. Training was easy, he caught on very quickly and within the year we became a certified Therapy Team. Our visits were to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, CA, Childrens Hospital of Los Angeles, Make-A-Wish Foundation and Ronald McDonald events for Kids. Winston was the ultimate giver of love, affection and tenderness to everyone he encountered. We loved our journey together as a Therapy Team and spent the better part of his life joined at the hip.

During this time, I began to jot down all the visits we made at the Hospital and kept them to write a book. Now that he is gone and my heart is broken, I'm going to write "Being Winston, The Diaries of a Therapy Dog" and hope to get it published.

Winston, the Wonder Dog will never leave my heart...he was my "Buddy Man" and the very best friend I have ever had. I loved him to the moon and back and know that now he has crossed the rainbow bridge he will be a wonderful influence to all his canine companions. Rest in Peace my dear, beautiful friend.