Phantom Felines And Other Ghostly Animals - Gerina Dunwich 2006

Eternal Love
Hounds and Hauntings

by Tamara Buchfelder

I had an extremely tumultuous childhood that began to ease somewhat with the arrival of a very special Saint Bernard named Sandy. She belonged to one of my mother’s friends, who was moving to Alaska. Because of Sandy’s hip dysplasia, she feared the dog would not tolerate such a harsh climate, so she left Sandy with my family.

Sandy became my best friend; we were inseparable. She helped me through many of the hard paths of my childhood and was uncannily wise. She was also a fervent protector.

Due to her medical condition, she was put down when I was about fifteen years old. It was the saddest day of my life. Nobody had loved me as Sandy had.

Time moved on, and I became an adult. In my twenties, I went to see a psychic, and her first comment to me was that I was accompanied by a large dog, who stayed close to my side! Of course, I knew this to be Sandy, but I had not experienced any signs of her still being present in my life. This was to change a few years later.

As I entered my thirties, I was dating a man, who, at the time, seemed a good match for me. I was living alone in a two-story condo in a neighborhood that didn’t have many dogs. I decided, after a few years, to give my boyfriend a key to my home so that we could share breakfast in the morning before heading to work.

The very first morning my boyfriend decided to use his key, I was sound asleep and not expecting him. Suddenly, I was awakened by the sound of a dog—a very large dog—barking frantically in my upstairs hallway! The barks were echoing in the high ceiling hall area; there was no mistake they were coming from inside my house! It took me a moment to register the fact that I did not have a dog.

As I very shakily arose from my bed, the barking ceased. I was now wide awake and wondering if I had hallucinated the entire episode. Meanwhile, downstairs at my back kitchen door, my boyfriend was frozen in suspended animation and terror, for at the very moment he had put the key to the lock, he heard the unmistakable barking of a very large, very ferocious dog inside my home.

I believe that Sandy was attempting to warn me of an intruder (and, as I eventually found out, a questionable character). After ruling out any other possibility and having two people hear the same thing, I can only conclude that my beloved friend really is still watching over me—even if I don’t see signs of it every day. Eternal love apparently knows no bounds.