Sometimes love comes looking for you, so it’s important to stay alert. Huge thanks to Debbie Krovitz for sharing this love story about her dog, Scruffy:

My senior dog Scruffy is 10 years old and weighs 50 pounds. He rescued us when he was 9 months old and lost, scared and hungry. We decided to bring him into the yard for the night so he would be safe from the coyotes, cars and other dangers. I took one look at his face and declared, “You sure are scruffy!” Hence, his name.

The next day we fell immediately in love with his happy face and the way he would roll over to have his belly rubbed. We took him to the vet to see if he was chipped or belonged to anyone. The vet said that he was not well taken care of and possibly neglected or abused and we were safe to keep him.

Scruffy is the man of our house and knows it. He lives with three women and has us all very well trained. He greets us with a happy smile every time we return home. He still demands his belly rubs and plays with his toys.

We can tell that Scruffy is starting to slow down a bit in his old age. He developed a few tumors that needed to be removed, and he’s missing a couple of teeth. He has difficulty jumping into the bed due to his arthritis, so we purchased thinner box springs. He’s also slowing down on our daily walks due to a heart murmur, so we take extra rests. He frequently needs to go outside during the middle of the night, so he wakes me with a gentle woof and I let him out.

Do I mind any of this? Not at all. These are the things we do for love. And I love my old dog — HE IS FAMILY!

Love your old dog? Tell us why! Send your thoughts, observations and dog photos to stories@myolddogbook.com with “I love my old dog because” in the subject line. Your dog may be featured in a future post!

Love stories and photos of sweet senior pooches? The book “My Old Dog: Rescued Pets with Remarkable Second Acts” by Laura T. Coffey and Lori Fusaro is due out on Oct. 6. It’s available for pre-order now at Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com.