Today’s Corner Shot in the Extra section made me smile, even through a mist of tears.

This dog was loved.

A precious little female, Mattie, came to us 9 years ago as a rescue from a puppy mill in Missouri.

She had been in a cage for 9 years, having litter after litter, and then was given to rescue. It was heartwarming to see her learn to live in a home. Walking on floors instead of wires, learning to go up and down steps (she  fell once) and sleeping on a soft bed.

She ran into the glass door once, then knew. Outside, she pawed the grass she never saw in her life, and eventually walked or ran all around our large  fenced yard, without the boundaries of her small cage.

We celebrated her 18th birthday last month with our whole family, and she even tasted her birthday cake.

It was apparent that her time on earth was limited because her kidneys  began to fail. But she was still at the door with the other dogs when one of us pulled into the driveway, her “foghorn” bark the first to be heard, and did not want to miss our nightly walk around the block.

I picked her up every chance I got, sitting down and holding her frail  little body with its soft white curls tight in my arms, treasuring these moments knowing they would end soon.

A few weeks ago, we had to say goodbye to our little Mattie. We said, “Thanks for your unconditional love and showing so much appreciation.”

Through the pain, I think of the old saying, “Better loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”

She was indeed worth loving!

– Nan Fariss, a reader in Roanoke