My name is Patrick Connolly. I want to share some thoughts on my little Cocker Spaniel. Her name is Lillie. I named her for my late wife Lillian. I got her on Valentines Day this year, 2007 from a breeder, Darlene Marx of Moonstar Cocker Spaniels in Ridge, NY.

I am 79 years old and severely crippled with arthritis. My wife Lillian died last year, 2006 on August 14th. I loved that good woman for a lifetime and after I lost her...this is hard to confess...I had little reason to go on and was borderline suicidal. I had even made plans. Family and friends were concerned and tried to get me to have someone in the house with me. I resisted.

Then, six months later...I cried many times every single day of that six months, my Lillian was my life....I answered Darlene's ad in Newsday. She had a litter of Cocker Spaniels for sale. I called her and she described one very special puppy among that litter. I yelled, "SOLD!" and my brother Andy drove me out to Ridge to get my puppy a few days Later.

When Darlene brought her out, it was love at first sight. She had been born December 23, 2006 and was thus a little more than seven weeks old on that day. I now have had her for more than nine months now and she'll be one year old in just a few weeks.

This little creature has changed my life. Little did anyone believe that a crusty old geezer like me would be going around calling my little four legged love "sweety" or "baby". Family and friends now tell me that I am a new man, thanks to my little Lillie. They have seen a day by day improvement in me that astounds them.

I do not know what it that binds dogs with people. Dogs know. They see inside us. Lillie has saved my life and I love her so very much.