Today I got the kind of call all parents hope for – a stellar, unsolicited report about a youngster we had raised from the beginning, with love, care and just the right amount of discipline. 

"I had lunch with Kathy today," my friend said.  "And she mentioned how much she loves Gracie." 

Gracie is our Schnoodle.  She is warm, compassionate and enthusiastic about life.  And, she is a genius.  It is no wonder that Kathy, the owner of the home-based canine camp where she boards when we go on vacation, is crazy about her.  Kathy confessed to my friend that while the other dogs, including my friend's dog Comet, have to play outside, Gracie has the run of the house.  And Kathy even lets Gracie sleep with her.  There is no question that all the nurture, exercise and exposure to the great outdoors that we have provided has paid off.

Through the years we have received rave reports about our boys as well.  When CJ was four, a parent commented that he was a "great eater," because he had asked for seconds of curried chicken.  And just recently, someone told us that BH was a "good conversationalist".  It's wonderful to get such positive feedback about our parenting.  But frankly, nothing we have been told about either of our sons has compared to the level of compliments we've gotten about the cuddly, tail-wagging Gracie.  Even our sons' greatest fans have never mentioned that they wanted our boys to spend the night curled up at the foot of their beds.

So now I must decide whether to ask Kathy to write a formal recommendation for Gracie.  Surely, if we send it in with BH's common app, the admissions people will realize that if we did such a great job with our dog, our son must be pretty cool as well.