I like both dogs and cats, but I'm probably slightly more of a dog person. Costello was an amazing dog. I was almost convinced he was the reincarnation of a human being, because he was so human-like. He was about 13 when he died. I'd hoped he'd live to like 18. I regret that the last few years of his life were spent in a stressful home, because I'd adopted my younger son.

I remember my older son came out to the house to see him the day before he died. He was actually court-ordered to stay away from my house at the time, because he had had a terrible fight with my younger son there and was arrested. No contact were the terms of his bail. I had him come over to say goodbye anyway, because he'd grown up with Costello. The thing was, he was so very paranoid at the time, he spent the entire visit talking about some paranoid delusion. I don't think he understood that this was his last chance with the dog.