Dear Brittany,

I received the pictures, and they are wonderful! I am definitely interested in adopting one of your puppies. I can't think of anything that might ease the pain of losing Gatsby more than bringing a member of his family into the house.

I'm leaning toward Captain, although Napoleon is adorable too. How old are the puppies? When do you think they will be ready to go? And what would be the process? Would you like me to fly out and pick him up?

Here's a question for you, and maybe it's too difficult to know at this age, but which puppy seems the most fastidious? One of the things I loved about Gatsby was his particularness. As I told you, he kept his toys in "his room," he was a neat eater, and he was particular about the weather he wanted to venture out in. If it was raining, he could wait until noon or later to go out to avoid getting wet. And if he did have to go out in the rain, when he came back in he went immediately to his bed in the corner of the sun porch to dry off before coming into the rest of the house. He was the Felix Unger (from The Odd Couple) of dogs. He loved everyone.

Once he came across a nest of baby rabbits in the yard. (He thought his job was to keep them out of the yard.) He gently picked up rabbit after rabbit and brought them to my boyfriend, who released them outside the fence. The third little bunny, Gatsby was reluctant to release, as he was hoping Jack was going to throw it for him, like one of his plush toys. Always a gentleman, Gatsby stayed out of the garden beds, and the rabbits soon figured out that they could ditch him by staying in the beds, as he wouldn't cross the perimeter after them. (He knew he wasn't allowed.)

I would be very interested in any training tapes, etc., you have, as whatever you did with Gatsby was just the right thing.

Best regards,

Leslie