It took us about 4 years between the loss of our Terra before we adopted Max. One of the problems was being afraid that the new dog could not measure up to the old dog. It took about a week before one of us looked at the other and said, “You know, Max is BETTER than Terra.”
In many ways Max was not really better — just different. He was never the retriever, or hunter, Terra was. And he never learned to balance a bone on his nose. And we never had to spell in front of him, but he didn’t bark, or whine, or piddle in the house — EVER. But, he was a good, loyal, pleasant companion who went to the office with us nearly every day of his life. We all miss him.
I would love to have a good loyal dog again. Every dog I have ever had the opportunity to have live with me has turned out to be friendly loyal companion.