My dog Nalu came to me via a garbage can, where I found him at the age of seven weeks. When I first held him, I put him next to my heart so he could hear it and he quickly calmed down, instinctively knowing he was now safe.

We have grown as constant companions, as we do almost everything as one. In our time together, we have only been separated a total of five days.

He is always virulent in protecting his "Mama" and does not know his 11-pound size. He often goes after the bigger dogs in the neighborhood including the 90-pound Doberman. Lucky for him, the other dogs find him either amusing or annoying, I really can't tell, but they leave him alone and I tell folks that some people have Rottweilers but I have a Ratweiler.

When Nalu first came into my life, my mother was living with me, but very sick with diabetes. One day, she saw us playing and I said to her, "I don't want to go heaven without Nalu. I'll stay here and we will haunt the Earth together."

Mom smiled and said, "It's OK, all dogs go to Heaven, but you? We'll have to see." Then she said, "Look at him, he loves you, it doesn't matter whether he is a dog, a cat, or a person, love is love and when all else is gone, love remains. God is love and Nalu, as all life, is a part of God."

A few months later, Mom died. I called the family priest to give her the last rites and when he arrived, so did the hospice nurse.

All day, Nalu had been quietly lying near Mom's bedside. The priest, the nurse and two friends all came into her bedroom and, still he stayed in his spot. He almost seemed to be guarding over her in her last moments. Finally, all the commotion was done and I was sitting across from her with the nurse.

After a few minutes, Nalu walked over to Mom's bed, got up on his hind legs and rubbed his head in the palm of her hand, then licked her hand a few times, got down and went back to his place and laid down.

"I have never seen him do that before," I said.

The nurse said, "I have, many times. He is just saying 'Goodbye' to his Grandma and telling her he loves her."

"He knows what's going on?," I asked.

And she said, "They all do."

I often think of those moments — how a dog, a life that is not human, could understand human emotions and feelings.

I believe Mom was right about love. It transcends all forms of life and is the greatest power of all in the universe, and when all else is gone that love would always remain and it has done that for me.