Did you ever wonder why it hurts more to lose a dog than a good friend? I have been thinking about this a lot today. We are going to have our vet put our dog to sleep tomorrow. She is only seven and has been such a good dog she deserves a long life. She has helped raise the two dogs we have brought into our house after her. She taught them the rules of the house and how to swim. They were Shorthairs and larger than her but she would run with them and rough house with them. If they did anything wrong during the day she was was looking guilty when I came home. If I scolded them she was hurt. They were her babies. I only saw her angry once. The Doberman that was pushing her had gone too far. When she backed that dog up she was so proud of herself. The other time I saw her that proud was when we were training with a group of Shorthairs at Vicki's. We shot a bird over her and she carried it to where the other dogs were staked out. She paraded back and forth to let them know she could retreive too. Roxy was the other liver and white dog at most all of the Panhandle club events for the past few years. She was the little fat girl.
In answer to my original question I think as humans we know we will die. Your friend understands this every day. I don't think our dogs know that they are saying goodbye forever. I wish we could let her know we will remember her the rest of our lives.
Vern and Betsy Phillips
