The worlds best dog!

While I suppose the title of this post would cause great debate, as all dog owners must imagine they have the worlds greatest dog living in their household, in our small corner of the world we believe our lives were graced with the presence of the worlds greatest dog, Miss Oreo!
12 1/2 years ago my husband and I then without kids were settled into our home, things going well we decided it was the right time to get a dog. A woman at work had a dog unexpectedly have puppies (accidents happen) and was desperate to find homes for the little canines. Sadly my husbands work had him out of state at the time, so he could not go with me to see the dogs. He told me to go pick one out but had one condition, that I pick the friendliest dog or the one who approached me first. That all said I drove out to the boondocks where this co-worker lived and as I drove up her long dirt driveway out came running this tiny little black and white fur ball eager to great me. I was told that she was an escape artist and had gotten out of her pen several times. There were 7 other puppies and I had my pick of my the litter. Assorted colors, hair lengths no two puppies were alike, tough decision but my husbands request to take the first dog to great me echoed in my head, so it was the Houdini dog/ escape artist that I picked. As I drove home with her I panicked thinking what have I done? If she is constantly breaking out of her kennel then I probably have picked the trouble maker of the litter. When my husband came home it was love at first sight. We named the little black and white fluff ball Oreo (I know not very original but it fit). Oreo grew, and grew, quickly becoming a very large dog topping out at a big 80+ pounds. We learned she was part Chow and part hound dog, beautiful and unique this gentle black and white giant colored our world. When my son was born, she became a second moma. Not letting the cat near him she would chase them away. When he cried she would wake me. When he learned to crawl and walk she tolerated and seemed to love him climbing all over her. When he toddled around outside and would start to wonder she would chorale him back. Halloween she would pose for silly pictures. His first day of school she would see him off and welcome him home, always tail wagging. When he learned to read she would allow him to lean against her and read aloud, his own little four legged audience. She was part of the family, and we were just smitten with her! Sadly Miss Oreo was laid to rest this weekend and our hearts are broken. There will never be another dog like her and we are blessed to have had her grace our lives. I will miss those big brown eyes but I suppose it was time for her to move on escaping on to heaven somewhere near the "rainbow bridge".