My friend Jamie's mother is in a nursing home in the late stages of Alzheimer's disease. She only occasionally recognizes family members and is frequesntly semiconscious at best. Jamie also has an old dog named Heidi that's very sick and probably only has days to live.

So, while Jamie was visiting his mother a few days ago she unexpectedly asked if he still had "that dog". He was rather shocked that his mom would remember his dog, since she rarely remembers his name, and probably hadn't seen the dog in ten years. He explained to her that, yes, he still had Heidi but that she was in pretty sad shape and would probably be gone before long. His mother said something like, "Hmmm, I thought so. I saw that dog today."