How many of you still grieve over the loss of your pet?

[truebluegreen]

50. Thank you.

He was handsome, the best looking dog in the shelter, and the saddest. When we found him he was maybe 9 months old, and had been in jail for 3. He was leaning up in the corner of his chain link cage, and didn't even stir or look at us when we came up. It was the despair that captured us in that first moment.

We took him out for a "walk" and let him off leash (this was out in a wide-open unfenced sagebrush area) and he starting running around like a dervish, trying to expend all the bottled-up energy of the previous months at once. Pure joy on wheels.

We eventually gathered him up and went back, and--trying to be sensible--asked if we could take him home over the weekend (this was Tuesday). They told us he "wouldn't be here" by the weekend, and that he was vicious, and they were afraid to let us adopt him. We told them to show us where to sign and put him in the car.

That dog wasn't vicious, if anything he was a zen master, just at that time tried almost past bearing. He was never aggressive with other dogs, or children, or people. He did eventually tire of trying to make friends with coyotes--as many as 6 at a time--but contented himself with running them down and knocking them flat with his chest, and then waltzing away with his tail in the air. Here where he lived his last years, children are taught that dogs are for protection or guarding, and are dangerous--particularly large (85 lbs) black dogs. But they--and other dogs--were drawn to him as to a magnet. It was amazing to watch.

Thanks for letting me re-live, and a big hug to you too. I am so sorry for the pain you must feel.