Favorite animal?

[Fran]

uh-huh, sure, having my leg humped and my crotched sniffed every time I walk through the door isn't my idea of a good trait to have in a pet.

Angie, boy doggies hump legs and sniff crotches; in my (albeit limited) experience girl doggies don't do this. Well, most of the time; occasionally Flo forgets that we're both girls and different species to boot, and tries to hump my leg and sniff my crotch, but mostly she's just utterly adorable.

I guess what I was trying to say is that traits you may find undesirable in a dog - possessiveness, leg-humping, leg-spraying, sniff-crotching, wandering, sex-starved-crazed - are pretty much absence in a bitch. Bitches are also more family oriented. Having had a dog and experienced my sister's bitch (Flo), I will definitely be getting a bitch next time.

Girl doggies are just my personal preference. Boy-doggies are still gorgeous too.

Also with respect to having to walk a dog, the duration depends on the breed and size. E.g. if you get a Chihuahua you'd probably not need to walk it much...

Here endeth my 'get-a-dog' campaign - and before you ask, Victor didn't put me up to this either

[Fran]

A Chihuahua is perfectly capable of taking off your finger with one bite. A Mastiff could almost certainly take your arm. Sometimes I marvel that I'm living with giant carnivorous predators as my intimate companions -- it's like something out of a science fiction or fantasy novel.

I have often thought this as well. Isn't it weird the pleasure we get from an entirely different species, who speaks a completely different language to us?

Edited February 18, 2007 by Fran

[Dragonfly]

I have a special fascination for water insects and other small freshwater animals, which goes back to an early age. When I was a child, we lived in a tiny apartment in Amsterdam in a busy street, at the time on the outskirts of the city, so I had only to walk half an hour to get to the polder to go fishing with a net in the ditches. As a city boy I always had an enormous yearning for nature, and I enjoyed catching some living nature to be able to watch it back at home.

And what a wonderful world that is! I never can understand that people read stupid SF stories with all kinds of weird monsters, when there is a much more fascinating and real world within reach. Watch a stickling building a nest or caddis fly larvae crawling on the bottom in small cylinders that they build from sand grains, little snail shells or plant remains, each species with a different form of cylinder. Or the big and voracious Dytiscus marginalis beetles and their even more voracious and sinister larvae, hanging upside down below the water surface and waiting for a tadpole or a small fish and zap! they got it with their mandibles which look like huge fangs, injecting it with a fluid that dissolves the inside of the animal and sucking it empty. Or the even bigger Hydrophilus piceus beetle, which as an adult eats mostly plant material, but which has a dangerous sting on its belly, so you have to grab it carefully at the sides if you don’t want to be hurt (I once found one on a tennis court in the evening, perhaps confused by the bright lights; I put it in the tin for the tennis balls to take it home for my aquarium).

Further the comical Hygrobia hermanni beetle, which can make squeaking noises. The sinister Ranatra linearis (water stick insect) and Nepa cinerea (water scorpion), both belonging to the Hemiptera, like the back swimmers and the pond skaters or Jesus bugs. And what can be more fascinating than watching the silvery glittering Argyroneta aquatica (water spider) building a diving bell and filling it with air! Or the dragonfly larvae with their masks that they can unfold with lightning speed to catch their prey. How many people have seen such a larva climbing out of the water and the adult insect emerging from it? First its wings are small stumps that are slowly pumped up until they are full size, and at the same time the short body stretches and becomes thinner. Watching this will never bore me.

Well, I could go on and on with describing all these wonders, but I’ll leave it at that (PS. I shouldn’t forget to mention also the incredible world of a water drop under the microscope). I just find this miniature world much more fascinating than all those big animals like crocodiles, bears and lions, it’s so much more exotic, different from ourselves, and it is so much more pleasant than those noisy, barking, stinking and obtrusive dogs. I think the fact that it is a miniature world is part of the fascination, perhaps there is a common factor with the fascination for for example toy trains that some people have (me included, although I don't have them).

Let me add that I’m also a cat lover, but most of you will know that already. Dogs are socialists and second-handers, cats are individualists. Most dictators love dogs and hate cats. Rand’s greatest asset is that she was a cat lover, I’ll forgive her everything for that.

[CNA]

Or you can go this route which believe it or not they absolutely LOVE, so much more playful, frisky, energetic, very happy:

:rofl:

Angie, are you serious? That looks like one seriously pissed cat to me!

In fact, I remember seeing that picture making the rounds of the internet a while back, along with some joke about a woman from the south who had recently moved up north and taken the poor kitty into the groomer and asked for a line cut. Her accent resulted in the cut shown in the picture.

:rofl:

Judith

PS: I really do believe you when you say that your cat likes it; it's just that that particular picture is so funny, given the expression on that cat's face.

That's the only decent photo I was able to find with that type of cut. My having cats it's not easy to tell if they are pissed off with such a photo and if they were truly unhappy with having their hair cut. With Jengo being the long haired Persian, it can be a bit difficult with grooming and mats. He loves to be brushed with the exception of his tummy. This can be a battle to the death and trying to keep his tummy well groomed from mats, etc. Well, after many many attempts at tummy grooming, he ended up having mats. I was successful in getting a few out but the ones right at the arm pit area on his front paws were impossible for me to get. So I called and asked if I could bring him in to have them take the mats out for me. When I went in, she said, why don't you have him groomed overall and have his hair cut. We talked a bit more and she answered my questions. I decided, what the hell, a full blown grooming would be nice. She told me that I would be surprised when seeing him but the cats ultimately love it. So I left and later picked up Jengo. I was floored to see him. I brought him home and was very surprised at his demeanor. Jengo was in the most playful frisky mood I had ever seen him in and it continued. I may do it again once summer comes around but so far the brushings have been pretty successful.

As for the selection of Jengo and the color of his fur, well, he was a rescued kitty from deplorable conditions and I didn't want to leave him there after discovering him. So my being picky on the color of his fur didn't come into the picture. I didn't care. I've had cats before and the hair wasn't a real issue if grooming was kept up, vacuuming, etc. With my career, I do wear professional clothing and definitely dress the part but so far I've never had a problem with his hair being on my clothes. If I do see hair, it's usually the one or two strands on my pant leg, etc. But he is fastidious about grooming as most cats are as well as my brushings have kept the hair pretty much nonissue.

[Victor Pross]

uh-huh, sure, having my leg humped and my crotched sniffed every time I walk through the door isn't my idea of a good trait to have in a pet.

Angie, boy doggies hump legs and sniff crotches; in my (albeit limited) experience girl doggies don't do this. Well, most of the time; occasionally Flo forgets that we're both girls and different species to boot, and tries to hump my leg and sniff my crotch, but mostly she's just utterly adorable.

I guess what I was trying to say is that traits you may find undesirable in a dog - possessiveness, leg-humping, leg-spraying, sniff-crotching, wandering, sex-starved-crazed - are pretty much absence in a bitch. Bitches are also more family oriented. Having had a dog and experienced my sister's bitch (Flo), I will definitely be getting a bitch next time.

Girl doggies are just my personal preference. Boy-doggies are still gorgeous too.

Also with respect to having to walk a dog, the duration depends on the breed and size. E.g. if you get a Chihuahua you'd probably not need to walk it much...

Here endeth my 'get-a-dog' campaign - and before you ask, Victor didn't put me up to this either

Fran, thank you for your "Get-a-dog" campaign! I don't know why Angie would think I would put you up to it. Anyway, I'll have your money-order off to you soon. Um...I mean...er...

[Brant Gaede]

It's a scientific fact that dog haters are introverted extroverts! They also believe in UFOs!

--Brant

[Victor Pross]

It's a scientific fact that dog haters are introverted extroverts! They also believe in UFOs!

--Brant

Not only that, but if anybody has ever read Gary Larson’s The Far Side should properly be leery of insects.

[Ellen Stuttle]

I'm much more a cat person than a dog person, though I don't go so far as Dragonfly does, since I don't actively hate dogs. Horses, of course, I love -- but without illusions. Horses aren't the smartest of animals; if they were, hard to understand why they'd have become domesticated the way they have become.

At any rate..."every party has a pooper." I only noticed this thread late yesterday afternoon, and on the edges of consciousness I've been debating ever since whether or not to say something about this remark by Judith. At length, accuracy got the better of me.

Judith wrote, in post #11, about bears being exhibited at the Oregon Zoo::

There's a little educational sign that says, "He knows his nose shows!" that says that polar bears will sit by a seal's air hole patiently for hours, with their paws over their noses, knowing that their dark noses can be seen below the ice.

I really, really doubt that the polar bear "knows his nose shows." C'mon, polar bears have an "image" of what they look like, and a theory of perception according to which they can imagine what they look like to a seal emerging from an air hole? I doubt this. The much simpler explanation is that it's cold sitting "patiently for hours" watching a seal hole in icy water and the polar bear covers its nose because the nose, not being fur-encased, gets cold.

Ellen

___

[Dragonfly]

I really, really doubt that the polar bear "knows his nose shows." C'mon, polar bears have an "image" of what they look like, and a theory of perception according to which they can imagine what they look like to a seal emerging from an air hole? I doubt this. The much simpler explanation is that it's cold sitting "patiently for hours" watching a seal hole in icy water and the polar bear covers its nose because the nose, not being fur-encased, gets cold.

You are of course right that the bear doesn't "know" that his nose shows in the sense as we would know that our nose (or something else) shows and that this would be disadvantageous if we would want to hide our presence, it doesn't reason from cause to effect. But it is very well possible that the tendency of holding their paws over their nose is inherited, as such a trait would be advantageous for survival (they are better at catching seals, which gives them an advantage over the nose-exhibitionists). So this explanation that holding the paws over the nose is behavior that is caused by the higher invisibility and thereby better prospects for getting food may be correct, although we shouldn't assume that this is reasoned by the bear. In fact the same can be said for all instinctive behavior, like for example hiding (of predators to surprise their prey and of prey animals to escape predation). We shouldn't be afraid to use teleological language in describing such behavior, as long as we don't fall in the trap of anthropomorphizing the animal (including in some cases humans themselves) by attributing logical reasoning to it.

[Dragonfly]

Horses, of course, I love -- but without illusions. Horses aren't the smartest of animals; if they were, hard to understand why they'd have become domesticated the way they have become.

Why wouldn't that be smart? Their chances of survival probably increased significantly and in general their life may have become more pleasant. Perhaps it's not the kind of life according to the Objectivist ideals, but I doubt that horses have problems with their self-esteem and neither do I think that they care much for metaphysics.

[Judith]

Horses, of course, I love -- but without illusions. Horses aren't the smartest of animals; if they were, hard to understand why they'd have become domesticated the way they have become.

Horses are very hard to understand, because they are very unlike us. It took me years and years of being around them before I could start to get inside their heads. Considering that a 1,500 pound animal like a large warmblood has a brain the size of my fist, they're amazingly intelligent. It's just not the kind of intelligence to which we're accustomed. We tend to project ourselves onto animals and make subjective judgments about them (i.e., dogs are servile, cats are individualists, horses are stupid for allowing themselves to be used, etc.).

Horses are herd animals. One of their biggest motivations in life is to maintain peace within the herd and among themselves. The herd leader isn't the biggest or the strongest, but the strongest-willed. If someone is insistent about something, a horse will back down and acquiesce, thus maintaining peace. Mules aren't like this, thus making them much more difficult to work with. Their hybrid strength makes them worth the effort, which is why they are bred.

There's a little educational sign that says, "He knows his nose shows!" that says that polar bears will sit by a seal's air hole patiently for hours, with their paws over their noses, knowing that their dark noses can be seen below the ice.

I really, really doubt that the polar bear "knows his nose shows." C'mon, polar bears have an "image" of what they look like, and a theory of perception according to which they can imagine what they look like to a seal emerging from an air hole? I doubt this. The much simpler explanation is that it's cold sitting "patiently for hours" watching a seal hole in icy water and the polar bear covers its nose because the nose, not being fur-encased, gets cold.

(*shrug*) Who knows? I doubt the people who wrote the sign would have said this if the bears covered their noses in contexts other than seal hunting by holes in the water. We could look it up if we really want to know!

Judith

[Judith]

With Jengo being the long haired Persian, it can be a bit difficult with grooming and mats. He loves to be brushed with the exception of his tummy. This can be a battle to the death and trying to keep his tummy well groomed from mats, etc. Well, after many many attempts at tummy grooming, he ended up having mats. I was successful in getting a few out but the ones right at the arm pit area on his front paws were impossible for me to get. So I called and asked if I could bring him in to have them take the mats out for me. When I went in, she said, why don't you have him groomed overall and have his hair cut. We talked a bit more and she answered my questions. I decided, what the hell, a full blown grooming would be nice. She told me that I would be surprised when seeing him but the cats ultimately love it. So I left and later picked up Jengo. I was floored to see him. I brought him home and was very surprised at his demeanor. Jengo was in the most playful frisky mood I had ever seen him in and it continued. I may do it again once summer comes around but so far the brushings have been pretty successful.

I can believe that it would be a battle to the death! I wonder how the pro did it? Sounds like a dangerous job. Mats can be right down by the skin and can be an actual health problem if they're not cut out.

As for the selection of Jengo and the color of his fur, well, he was a rescued kitty from deplorable conditions and I didn't want to leave him there after discovering him. So my being picky on the color of his fur didn't come into the picture. I didn't care. I've had cats before and the hair wasn't a real issue if grooming was kept up, vacuuming, etc. With my career, I do wear professional clothing and definitely dress the part but so far I've never had a problem with his hair being on my clothes. If I do see hair, it's usually the one or two strands on my pant leg, etc. But he is fastidious about grooming as most cats are as well as my brushings have kept the hair pretty much nonissue.

Interesting. Does he have a fluffy undercoat? I've never been around a long-long-haired cat, just a medium longhair. That one did have a fluffy undercoat and shed what looked like balls of cotton at certain times of year which would adhere to clothing like VELCRO. Maybe the true longhairs are easier to manage than the shorthairs.

Judith

[Judith]

Angie, boy doggies hump legs and sniff crotches; in my (albeit limited) experience girl doggies don't do this. Well, most of the time; occasionally Flo forgets that we're both girls and different species to boot, and tries to hump my leg and sniff my crotch, but mostly she's just utterly adorable.

I guess what I was trying to say is that traits you may find undesirable in a dog - possessiveness, leg-humping, leg-spraying, sniff-crotching, wandering, sex-starved-crazed - are pretty much absence in a bitch. Bitches are also more family oriented. Having had a dog and experienced my sister's bitch (Flo), I will definitely be getting a bitch next time.

Girl doggies are just my personal preference. Boy-doggies are still gorgeous too.

Also with respect to having to walk a dog, the duration depends on the breed and size. E.g. if you get a Chihuahua you'd probably not need to walk it much...

(*laugh*) Well, you're certainly getting different perspectives here, Angie!

My bitches have always seemed a lot aloof and more independent than my dogs, which have always seemed more emotionally dependent on me. It's very much a matter of personal preference. My limited experience has been that bitches bond more to men and dogs bond more to women, although I've loved dearly both my dogs and my bitches and would always want to have one of each. They're very different, and it's an excellent way to experience true masculinity and femininity without the social baggage attached to each.

My bitch is just as interested in crotch-sniffing as is my dog. I have a friend with a spayed bitch who has a humpy toy at which she goes with extremely amusing vigor, and eats the crotches out of underwear if they're not put in a hamper.

I don't walk my dogs at all -- they run in a fenced yard for exercise. They do laps. Having two is a definite benefit -- they run with each other, have each other for company in an empty house, play with each other, etc.

Judith

edit: giant breed dogs don't hump legs; they hump couches.

Edited February 19, 2007 by Judith

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

This one is for Judith, so dog haters please ignore. Maurice Maeterlinck, who was a Belgian writer and Nobel prize winner back in 1911, wrote a lovely piece called OUR FRIEND, THE DOG from a compilation of essays called The Double Garden.

I came across a quote from this work in a book called The Company of Dogs: Twenty-One Stories by Contemporary Masters edited by Michael J. Rosen. Kat and I bought the book in a thrift shop the other day. We saw it and immediately thought of Judith, so we had to have it. I am giving the Maeterlinck quote below as abridged by Rosen, plus another short quote from the same work I found very charming.

Man loves the dog, but how much more ought he to love it if he considered, in the inflexible harmony of the laws of nature, the sole exception, which is that love of a being that succeeds in piercing, in order to draw closer to us, the partitions, every elsewhere impermeable, that separate the species! We are alone, absolutely alone on this chance planet; and, amid all the forms of life that surround us, not one, excepting the dog, has made an alliance with us. A few creatures fear us, most are unaware of us, and not one loves us. In the world of plants, we have dumb and motionless slaves; but they serve us in spite of themselves. They simply endure our laws and our yoke. They are impotent prisoners, victims incapable of escaping, but silently rebellious; and, so soon as we lose sight of them, they hasten to betray us and return to their former wild and mischievous liberty. The rose and the corn, had they wings, would fly at our approach like the birds.

Among the animals, we number a few servants who have submitted only through indifference, cowardice or stupidity: the uncertain and craven horse, who responds only to pain and is attached to nothing; the passive and dejected ass, who stays with us only because he knows not what to do nor where to go, but who nevertheless, under the cudgel and the pack-saddle, retains the idea that lurks behind his ears; the cow and the ox, happy so long as they are eating, and docile because, for centuries, they have not had a thought of their own; the affrighted sheep, who knows no other master than terror; the hen, who is faithful to the poultry-yard because she finds more maize and wheat there than in the neighbouring forest. I do not speak of the cat, to whom we are nothing more than a too large and uneatable prey: the ferocious cat, whose sidelong contempt tolerates us only as encumbering parasites in our own homes. She, at least, curses us in her mysterious heart; but all the others live beside us as they might live beside a rock or a tree. . . .

Now, in this indifference and this total want of comprehension in which everything that surrounds us lives; in this incommunicable world, where everything has its object hermetically contained within itself, where every destiny is self-circumscribed, where there exist among the creatures no other relations than those of executioners and victims, eaters and eaten, where nothing is able to leave its steel-bound sphere, where death alone establishes cruel relations of cause and effect between neighbouring lives, where not the smallest sympathy has ever made a conscious leap from one species to another, one animal alone, among all that breathes upon the earth, has succeeded in breaking through the prophetic circle, in escaping from itself to come bounding toward us, definitely to cross the enormous zone of darkness, ice and silence that isolates each category of existence in nature's unintelligible plan. This animal, our good familiar dog, simple and unsurprising as may to-day appear to us what he has done, in thus perceptibly drawing nearer to a world in which he was not born and for which he was not destined, has nevertheless performed one of the most unusual and improbable acts that we can find in the general history of life.

... in the aggregate of intelligent creatures that have rights, duties, a mission and a destiny, the dog is a really privileged animal. He occupies in this world a preeminent position enviable among all. He is the only living being that has found and recognizes an indubitable, tangible, unexceptionable and definite god. He knows to what to devote the best part of himself. He knows to whom above him to give himself. He has not to seek for a perfect, superior and infinite power in the darkness, amid successive lies, hypotheses and dreams. That power is there, before him, and he moves in its light. He knows the supreme duties which we all do not know. He has a morality which surpasses all that he is able to discover in himself and which he can practise without scruple and without fear. He possesses truth in its fulness. He has a certain and infinite ideal.

Oh, the temptation to make a wisecrack about certain Objectivists! But I shall bite my tongue out of respect for the noble canine.

Michael

[Judith]

Thank you, Michael -- for you and Kat thinking of me and buying the book, and for posting the quotes!

I'll add a portion of Lord Byron's epitaph for Boatswain, his Newfoundland:

Beauty without vanity

Strength without insolence

Courage without ferocity

And all the virtues of man without his vices.

Judith

[BAMF]

I forgot to say (though I guess it goes without saying) that my favorite animal in the world is my dog, Kacee. I had her since I was three years old. We had to have her put to sleep today. :cry:

[CNA]

I forgot to say (though I guess it goes without saying) that my favorite animal in the world is my dog, Kacee. I had her since I was three years old. We had to have her put to sleep today. :cry:

Oh, Honey, I'm sooo sorry to hear that about Kacee. I know how hard it can be. If she was suffering at all, honey, she's not anymore. I lost a bunny named Boo Boo that I had for many years and a cat named Lady. Oh, girlie girl, I hope you are doing okay and try to keep your chin up. :console: If you need to talk, just email me. Hugs and kisses, sweetie !! :kiss: :hug: :kiss: :hug:

Edited February 24, 2007 by CNA

[Victor Pross]

I forgot to say (though I guess it goes without saying) that my favorite animal in the world is my dog, Kacee. I had her since I was three years old. We had to have her put to sleep today. :cry:

Oh, Honey, I'm sooo sorry to hear that about Kacee. I know how hard it can be. If she was suffering at all, honey, she's not anymore. I lost a bunny named Boo Boo that I had for many years and a cat named Lady. Oh, girlie girl, I hope you are doing okay and try to keep your chin up. :console: If you need to talk, just email me. Hugs and kisses, sweetie !! :kiss: :hug: :kiss: :hug:

Boo Boo!? And you call me Boo? But I get only one Boo? The bunny is Boo Boo. Two of them! I feel less important. I'm second to a bunny!

edit: Kori, tootsie, I'm sorry to hear that. I have lost a few pets and so, yes, I can imagine how you feel.

Edited February 24, 2007 by Victor Pross

[CNA]

I forgot to say (though I guess it goes without saying) that my favorite animal in the world is my dog, Kacee. I had her since I was three years old. We had to have her put to sleep today. :cry:

Oh, Honey, I'm sooo sorry to hear that about Kacee. I know how hard it can be. If she was suffering at all, honey, she's not anymore. I lost a bunny named Boo Boo that I had for many years and a cat named Lady. Oh, girlie girl, I hope you are doing okay and try to keep your chin up. :console: If you need to talk, just email me. Hugs and kisses, sweetie !! :kiss: :hug: :kiss: :hug:

Boo Boo!? And you call me Boo? But I get only one Boo? The bunny is Boo Boo. Two of them! I feel less important. I'm second to a bunny!

Boo, I give pet names to those I love dearly !! But see, yours is with more affection and love. You are first because you have only one Boo. And my bunny Boo Boo had two Boos which made her second to your one Boo. First and second. But see, how she got her name was quite different than how you got your pet name Boo. Boo Boo had a white spot on her nose which made her look like she had a boo boo on her nose. She was all black with the one white spot on her nose so she was named Boo Boo.

Edited February 24, 2007 by CNA

[Victor Pross]

Okay, honey, I’m now happy to know that I share in proxy a comparable name with your bunny. After all, we are both animals. Hee-hee.

[Judith]

I forgot to say (though I guess it goes without saying) that my favorite animal in the world is my dog, Kacee. I had her since I was three years old. We had to have her put to sleep today. :cry:

Kori, I am so sorry. I've lost dogs, and there's no words for it. My thoughts are with you.

Judith

[BAMF]

Thank you all very much. I didn't think it would be so tough, but I've had her for so long. I talked to her all the time. Now it's going to be so lonely in the house. I dread coming home from school on Monday and seeing that she's not there.

For the past 2 days she had not been able to get up off the floor. She had arthritis very bad. I also found out that she had brain tumors and a stroke. I know it was the best thing to do, but it's so hard. She's the only pet I've ever lost. She was Kori's best friend.

Anyway, I'm sorry for y'all's losses as well. So, so tough. :cry:

P.S. Victor, you made me laugh. Hurrah!

I forgot to say (though I guess it goes without saying) that my favorite animal in the world is my dog, Kacee. I had her since I was three years old. We had to have her put to sleep today. :cry:

Oh, Honey, I'm sooo sorry to hear that about Kacee. I know how hard it can be. If she was suffering at all, honey, she's not anymore. I lost a bunny named Boo Boo that I had for many years and a cat named Lady. Oh, girlie girl, I hope you are doing okay and try to keep your chin up. :console: If you need to talk, just email me. Hugs and kisses, sweetie !! :kiss: :hug: :kiss: :hug:

Boo Boo!? And you call me Boo? But I get only one Boo? The bunny is Boo Boo. Two of them! I feel less important. I'm second to a bunny!

edit: Kori, tootsie, I'm sorry to hear that. I have lost a few pets and so, yes, I can imagine how you feel.

Kori, I am so sorry. I've lost dogs, and there's no words for it. My thoughts are with you.

[Judith]

Thank you all very much. I didn't think it would be so tough, but I've had her for so long. I talked to her all the time. Now it's going to be so lonely in the house. I dread coming home from school on Monday and seeing that she's not there.

It's very hard coming home to that empty house.

I know that the decision about whether to get another dog right away isn't entirely up to you. Some people need to wait a while and grieve before they get another dog, and some people want to get another dog right away. If you have any say about the decision, make sure you do what's right for you. :hug:

Judith

[Victor Pross]

One thing about having a dog that is a standard breed is that you can go out and replace him---and never have to take new photos of the new pet. You have the old photos of the lost pet. It’s the same goddamn dog. You can go to the pet store and shove a picture in the clerks face and say “I’ll have another one of these!”

Edited February 24, 2007 by Victor Pross

[BAMF]

Thank you all very much. I didn't think it would be so tough, but I've had her for so long. I talked to her all the time. Now it's going to be so lonely in the house. I dread coming home from school on Monday and seeing that she's not there.

It's very hard coming home to that empty house.

I know that the decision about whether to get another dog right away isn't entirely up to you. Some people need to wait a while and grieve before they get another dog, and some people want to get another dog right away. If you have any say about the decision, make sure you do what's right for you. :hug:

Judith

You know just what I'm thinking. I DO want to get another dog, and I feel kind of bad about it. No dog will ever replace my Kacee, but I need the company. But my parents don't want another one, so we won't be having one.

One thing about having a dog that is a standard breed is that you can go out and replace him---and never have to take new photos of the new pet. You have the old photos of the lost pet. It’s the same goddamn dog. You can go to the pet store and shove a picture in the clerks face and say “I’ll have another one of these!”

LOL, Victor. She wasn't a standard breed. Plus, no dog could EVER replace my K-dawg. We dont have enough pics of her either. I have a couple on my phone that I took the day she couldn't get up off the floor any longer. But she's looking very sad in those.