RIP Billy 2016-2025

Billy was a good dog.

Billy first came to us in July 2016 as a stray. He was big, but not full grown; I guessed he was six months old. He weighed 86 pounds when he was full grown.

On August 5, I had to go to San Francisco to have major surgery on my spine: laminectomy and fusion with internal fixation (rods) from L5 to T10.

At the beginning of September I came back and we started walking every day. At first he was on a leash, but that didn’t last long.

A few months later, a dog who lived on Leonard Avenue about a half mile from our house joined us and refused to leave. He was a black dog about 50 or 60 pounds. I found out later that he had been a stray as well and had been adopted at that house. I don’t know whether it was love for Billy or unhappiness with his “owner”, but Boris came to live with us too, for the rest of his life (he died about a year ago). After Boris died, Billy came inside to sleep at the foot of our bed every night.

Boris and Billy were inseparable and slept in the same dog house. They walked with me every day and I was fully rehabilitated after a couple of years. This grueling surgery and a $250,000 titanium rod were my reward for 27 years of being a doctor.

Billy was my reward for trying to be a good person. I know he loved me. Billy was a good dog.