(07-17-2019, 11:28 AM)Bill the Piper Wrote: Accept my sincere condolences. I cannot really offer consolation, but I know how important a dog can be to his owner.
I have a 15-year-old dog too and I know the end is approaching, though he may last for two years as well.
![[Image: 8e5404a495884baf8b0fbbc7dab3ddd9--rainbo...ridges.jpg]](https://i.pinimg.com/736x/8e/54/04/8e5404a495884baf8b0fbbc7dab3ddd9--rainbow-bridge-dog-bridges.jpg)
Thank you. If there is a real Heaven, then that is where my dog went. He visited my father, my mother, and an aunt on the second-to-last days of their lives. I believed that he had the right to know, and not many animals understand death as do dogs -- and few animals better understand us. He was much comfort. I will remember going with him to Tahquamenon Falls in Michigan's Upper Peninsula -- in the winter! -- and I think Tahquamenon is better than Niagara Falls -- and Great Smoky Mountains National Park.
Someone in the household blames me for losing that sweet, innocent dog and has told me that in view of my mistake, I deserve no more dogs. That little dog has kept me from going over the edge, and he was a good ice-breaker. Sweet, innocent dogs can run away from home and get lost. I think he had all sorts of medical problems, including cancer. I knew of two tumors and lots of warts. Maybe he knew that he was dying and wanted to spare us some grief.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.