When I moved out of my mom's house, I left behind someone very near and dear to me...my dog Smokey.

Good ol' Smokey is a black lab, almost 9 years old...and about 125 lbs. Wait, you want me to repeat that? Ok. Smokey is about 125lbs! We're pretty sure he's mixed with something else. But the majority of his characteristics are so Lab like it's hard to see what else he could possibly be. The story goes, Smokey was an abandoned puppy, left with his bros and sistas in an old tire in a parking lot somewhere in Chicago. He was found and taken home by my mom's friend's sister. After my mom's friend decided she couldn't keep 3 dogs, she passed Smokey off to us to love and care for. At that time he was almost a year old. And so cute. You know that stage where puppy paws are too big for their body. So Cute! Anyhoo, Smokey has had his share of problems. Starting with hernia we had to have removed when he was one. Then a broken paw (thanks to that jerk of a neighbor kid next door), then his surgery over a year ago to have a benign tumor removed from his jaw. Labs are known for developing tumors. It may ultimately be his fate in the end. But at this time Smokey was just diagnosed with having arthritis. Poor old pooch. My sister woke to find him hopping along on his two front legs and only one back leg. Two trips to the vet and a few x-rays later and my puppy now has to be categorized as [whispers] old. Not only that, but now he has to be put on medication and a diet to ease his weight. Ok, so we saw it coming. And we did have him on diet food for a good 2 years. And he's hard to walk since he's so big. How do you give a dog exercise that can't walk well? Beats me. Hopefully i'll be able to go see him soon so I can spend some quality time with him. Message to everyone: Be kind to your best friend...including your pets...they suffer just as much as humans do.