[Jeff Higgins]

As dog owners, this is kinda what we sign up for. I lost my first dog, Fritz, a Collie, literally the day after my dad died. I was 18. In the interim, there have been six others, with Ed, my Golden Retriever, being number seven. He is three years old, and I'm 60. I'm hoping there is one more dog in me after Ed, before I have to go. This is what we do. It's unavoidable. Heartbreaking, yes, but it's all a part of it. These guys - our beloved buddies - would be out there, somewhere, with or without us. We are privileged, and they are privileged, when our paths cross - we get to give them the best lives they could ever possibly have had, and they get to enrich ours beyond measure. It hurts when they leave, definitely. No two ways about that. But, you know - get another one, make him or her your best buddy and give them the very best life they could possibly have. And do it again, with the next one. Until it's your turn.

And always remember what Will Rogers said - "if all dogs don't go to heaven, I want to go wherever it is they go".