In August 1997 my Jack Russell Terrier/Yelow Lab/Pug mix showed up in my driveway as if to say, "I'm home." I already had a dog and cat and really couldn't afford another pet but my friend talked me into keeping him and I'm so glad I did. Because he was already acting like a guard dog defending the neighborhood I named him Ripley after the Sigourney Weaver character in "Alien" and he has lived up to every bit of it. He's seen me through divorce, adoption, chronic illnesses, financial losses, pregnancy, deaths, severe depression, and numerous other obstacles in my life and is always there to get me off the couch and get me moving even when every bone in my body and my entire spirit screams "No!" He's almost died twice and is on a special diet and medication for a liver condition but in August he will be 14 and I will have had him 13 years. Those years I wouldn't trade for the world and I always joke that if he was a guy I'...