The best day of my life was when my partner brought home a bull mastiff puppy.
However, it didn't begin that way.
To me dogs were uncouth, whiffy, and always hungry.
''What did you buy that mutt for? He's going to be a headache!''
It wasn't long until I was right.
Toilet training was as unpleasant as a root canal!
I was immune to Jack's brown eyes because I saw trouble in them.
An annoying mess, from nose to tail.
First, his feet ballooned to the size of a wolf's.
Cohen, my partner, is the dog person.
He coached Jack to walk on a lead.
He patiently trained Jack to stop using the cat door before he became stuck.
He devotedly taught Jack tricks and that sleeping on the bed was forbidden.
Year after year Jack loved me, regardless of how I felt about his doggy nature.
His charisma was especially strong after rain or rolling in sheep droppings.
Jack's adoration never waned: not when I was angry, nor when I was depressed, or when I ignored him.
He was always waiting for me to get home and leaping like a ballerina when I'd pick up his lead.
In time we moved into our own home, a house with a big backyard and enough room for a freight train-sized dog.
Jack would give Zed, our cat, his bed and then snuggle up when the bossy cat fell asleep.
Both purring contentedly, or is that snoring?
One day Jack went missing.
We called.
We whistled.
We bribed with cat biscuits.
Still no Jack trotting sheepishly home, having proved more interested in a butterfly than our worried shouts.
Four hours later, Cohen found him beneath bushes.
He couldn't stand up, so we hefted our 45kg friend to the vet.
Two days later, we had a drained bank account, a bottle of pills and medical notes saying ''heart condition'' and ''not improving''.
Then one afternoon we found him.
Brown eyes closed forever.
Curled beneath his blanket.
No sound. No fuss. He just left us.
It was the worst day ever.
I'd do anything to bring back the best day of my life.
The day a capricious, devoted, loving, four-legged clown named Jack came into my life.
Shae MacMillan is a receptionist at the University of Otago physics department. Her hobbies are poetry, photography and gardening.
