By Alexandra Day

A better dog than Zabala would be hard to find.

As the third "Carl" he made bookstore appearances, went to conferences with me and helped me persuade Children' Hospital to start a dog-visitation program. We went to hospitals all over the United States and Canada, and I can tell remarkable stories about children who spoke for the first time in six months, raised supposedly paralyzed hands to pet him; of dying children whose parents wept on his neck. His death was . . . well, all owners of beloved dogs know what the loss is like.