From the "lump in yr. throat" dept: Just a dog named "George" (so sad, but so sweet)

New.Com.AU ^ | July 30, 2003 | Alex Divine

[PaulJ]

I will say one thing; people sure can get surly when you disagree about their pets.

[A Citizen Reporter]

Yes, I know. I have an acquaintence who is a "counselor" of the same sort of psychobable. Incredibly I've heard him make the same sort of argument about animals, though I know that he doesn't believe it of his own. Go figure.

[Scenic Sounds]

If humans were half as good at being human as dogs are at being dogs, we'd be a much happier lot.

[bicycle thug]

Sure guy, as Clinton most likely would put it; "It depends on how you define grief."

[Ditter]

We can sure agree on that old buddy! As I sit here with my 3 Jack Russell Terriers in my chair & at my feet. Don't mess with me or they will rip your kneecaps off. Its nice to be loved!

[MarkL]

Cute story, but dogs don't experience grief.

I disagree. Animals who have been raised with humans as part of a family can experience and exhibit grief. I've seen it happen with friends dogs, and I know for a fact it happened with my mother's cat when she died.

My mother had a tough, grizzled tom cat that was completely independant of anyone of anything. But when he was around her, he was my mother's little baby. He knew when she wasn't feeling well, and would climb up on her during her chemo treatments, putting a paw on each side of her neck, and burying his head under her chin, and go to sleep there, hugging her.

He became frantic when she went into the hospital, crying all the time. It was something I had never seen before. And after my mother died, he seemed to know that she was gone. He stopped eating, and eventually ran away. That cat had always been an outdoor cat, so his being gone for a few days at a time was nothing new. But he never once left the house in the two weeks that she was in the hospital, and his demeanor did change the night she died. Maybe he picked up that something was really wrong from me. I don't know. But I do know that this tough, independant, old cat (my mother had him for about 8 years before she died) grieved at the loss of my mother.

Mark

[CAPPSMADNESS]

Don't tell me that dogs don't experience emotions. You obviously have never owned a dog.

I didn't tell you no such thing - I believe that you posted to the wrong individual, Hildy.

I own three dogs, 9 cockatiels, two parrots a sugar glider and a hamster, so I do tend to disagree with the poster of the "dogs have no emotion" comment. However, I did want to see where he was coming from and why he believed this.

[MarkL]

Because animals have no concept of death.

Actually, that doesn't seem to be the case. It's been shown that elephants DO know what death is, and in fact understand what the bones of other dead elephants are.

Mark

[CAPPSMADNESS]

Then explain the behavior that your dog exhibits when you come home from work? Or the behavior he exhibits when you are scolding him - is not fear an emotion?

[MonroeDNA]

Thank you for your post. I got more than a bit teary-eyed.

[PaulJ]

Dude, get a heart.

Okay, I give. Uncle!! I now confess; my dog (and fish and birds) have displayed hate and despair and avarice as well as love, sorrow, grief and sympathy. And I love 'em for it!

[Hildy]

OOPS as Emily Latella would say, NEVER MIND.

[Not A Snowbird]

"Oh yeah, I look at my little fat cat and see an imperfect human."

I look at my fat cat and see... a fat cat!! With very endearing human characteristics.

[AnAmericanMother]

Greyfriars Bobby:

The Greyfriars Bobby memorial in Candlemakers Row, near Greyfriars Kirkyard where both Auld Jock Grey and Bobby are buried:

[Not A Snowbird]

Okay, I'll bite... what's a sugar glider?

[RedWhiteBlue]

Last week I visited a facility that specializes in taking care of people with Altzheimer's and old age dementia. They had a dog there (Nemo -- a Weimeraner) that was a facility pet. He wonders around constantly trying to find someone that will talk to him, pat his head, and scratch him behind the ear. A really friendly pooch. Anyway, the director told me that he has a way of sensing death. When a patient is dying, he will go to their room and keep a vigil until they are gone.

[Ditter]

Your fish display avarice?????? Now I know you are full of it. Everyone knows fish are the most generous creatures on earth, they will give you the shirt off their back. Didn't you see Nemo?

[Not A Snowbird]

I heard something similar, probably a different place, that had a cat that would do the same thing. The cat would go to the room just before somebody was going to pass away and refuse to leave.

Eerie!

[RedWhiteBlue]

Great pix. I love scruffy terriers!

[Abogado]

For those who have lost pets: The Rainbow Bridge

http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm