To the Editor:

Re “Lessons From a Rescue Dog,” by Margaret Renkl (Op-Ed, Jan. 28):

Over the past 20 years, I have provided a home for five rescue dogs, including a basset hound dumped beside a busy street and a chocolate Lab abandoned when college students went home for the summer. All five showed the psychic wounds that anyone would expect of animals that bond so strongly with humans.

But to borrow Raymond Carver’s line, surely that is part of what we talk about when we talk about love. Dog rescue isn’t for everyone; the cost of veterinary care for aging dogs can be substantial. But I can’t express how much those dogs have enriched my life — and, as Ms. Renki articulated so well, how much dogs can teach their humans about coming to terms with loss.

David Scott
Columbus, Ohio

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