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Dear Margorie, Yes it is very difficult to lose pets. Pet owners allow themselves to become involved with their "adopted children". Most folks who are not involved with pets may have a great deal of difficulty in understanding such attachments; and then there are those who feel pets are not to be invested in. They tend to say " well it's just a dog, and not like it is a person". Those types of comments, often are experienced by folks who have limited relationship with their pets, as an expression of "one should be ashamed of their loving" or guilt provokers, for their own unconscious feelings of neediness of their own love needs. In some cases never being exposed to animals when growing up limits what true joy can be received from being an adoptive parent to another living creature. I am reminded of the time our very young son had a pet rat, Nibbles, they had a very interactive relationship: walking on leach, riding on his head, covered in his pocket, hand fed when he got old, and finally almost inconsolable grief when Nibbles died. Our son said, I never want to lose another animal again, it hurts too much". I asked him, "if that meant he never would love again or not want to experience the joy that Nibbles gave him again ? " Our son has gone on to enjoy pets and now he is about to be a biological father himself. Margorie I can not begin to express my own emotions of gratitude and joy, when I see how involved he is with all the preparation and sharing he and his wife are experiencing now. Maybe I should call my new granddaughter Nibble ? Experiencing grief is a wonderful emotion, it hurts because you cared a lot, you gave a lot and your received a lot. Bernie At 11:47 AM 12/6/98 -0500, you wrote: >I took my two doxies to get their teeth cleaned on Wednesday >and one didn't make it. >I know they are just dogs, but they are my friends, I hurt and >all the platitudes aren't helping. > >I have lost dogs before, but I at least had a choice in their time >of death, this time, all I can remember is how FMWD (Fritzy Mayer >Weiner Dog) went prancing of with the attendant, and how I had to >take an empty leash home. > >Does anyone else find it harder to face things, >or am I just becoming too soft for my own good ,in my dotage? > > >As Ever, >Marjorie Moorefield >just another librarian with PD >66/10 >