This started in spring of '07. At this time, our only dog was Riley, a spaz-tastic black Lab. We would hear him out on the back porch running and romping, and would comment to each other that it sounded like he was playing with someone. We would even go check to see if something had gotten in the fence with him, like maybe a cat. He always was alone, but seemed to be chasing and wrestling someone, with that big happy dog grin on his face. After awhile, it simply became part of the routine.
One morning, my husband, Brad, had left for work, and was supposed to be out of town a few days. That night, I went outside to check on Riley, make sure he had plenty of food and water. While I was petting the dog, I noticed something out of the corner of my eye. I looked up, and standing by the gate was a tall man in what looked like a robe. He had a hood or hat over his face, and was sort of glowing softly with a blue-white light. Riley looked at this man, and wagged his tail happily. I stared between the man and Riley, who seemed to recognize this man, and then I freaked out and ran inside. I'm rather embarrassed about that reaction now.
Brad came home unexpectedly the next morning and I told him about the man from the night before. He didn't seem as surprised as I thought he should, he just said, "Well, I guess now we know who Riley plays with all night."
Riley continued to act like he had company outside. Sometimes we would feel cold spots on the porch, and just generally feel like someone was there. The presence wasn't at all frightening, and if the doggie beast liked the visitor, we liked him too. Riley is a pretty decent judge of character.
About a year later, we got another dog to keep Riley company. After that, we didn't notice cold spots on the porch or feel like there was someone else there as often. I think perhaps the spirit felt that he didn't have to "look after" Riley as much now that he had a full-time canine companion to play with.