My condolences on your loss Jim.
People's relationships with their pets are as varied as their relationships
with people, and I respect that.

I've had dogs all my life, been around cattle and horses ever since I can
remember, raised 100 chickens from hatching eggs in the second grade. (The
chickens got butchered when the roosters became mean and would attack my
mom.)

My first dog was a St. Bernard. He died on Mothers Day, 1974. I was 8.

The next was a Heinz 57 Spitz type, who grew old and totally insane, nipping
and biting anyone but me. I held him while my Dad euthanized him.

My next dog was the first dog that was totally "mine". I'd saved every
penny I had earned over summer vacation. He was a Sheltie, but an oversized
dog, about 1/3 the size of a Collie. He went everywhere with me until he
was about 5 years old and came down with an unknown disease and was
suffering terribly. I euthanized him myself with 30cc's of Acepromazine
mixed with Ketamine, 3cc's of Ace will put down a 2000 lb bull, he never
felt a thing. I buried him myself, alone. I was 15.

That was the same year that I bought my first show heifer, spent countless
hours, blood, sweat, and tears halter breaking her, training her, and taking
her to fairs and shows, actually slept in the stalls next to her while away
from home. She died that fall, hardware puncture to her rumen. I helped
the vet do the necropsy.

At one time our cow/calf operation consisted of over 2000 head of beef cows.
We had a half dozen horses and I worked cattle with horses every summer from
the time I was 12 until I was 20. The relationships that I developed with
the horses was a working relationship. The cows were a job. They could
just be down right mean. When they'd calve each spring, death was
everywhere. Helpless calves unable to nurse, still bornes, cows laying on
their calves, cows abandoning them, septic or milk fever cows dieing. You'd
feel sorry for them until the next cow kicked you, or the next calf crapped
all over you. Don't get me wrong, each of us developed many many
relationships with these horses and cattle. Some were good, some we cared
for deeply, some we simply hated and I'm positive that some of them hated us
just as much.

My kids were born during the years that my wife and I raised and showed
dogs. When the bitches whelped, I slept (if you can even call it sleeping)
right next to them. I protected the puppies from their own mother stepping,
laying, and eating them. I showed my kids exactly what happens when a
mother licks a puppies navel so much that it creates a hernia and the puppy
bleeds to death. I showed them the still bones. They've learned the
responsibility of animal ownership, care, life, and death. They've cried
when the puppy's were sold and the new owners took them away. They've also
re-greeted some of the same dogs years later when their owners would visit,
or we'd see one at a show.

The point that I've tried to pass on to my kids is that death is part of
animal ownership. The minute that an animal is born, responsibility begins
and will not end until one day you have to say goodbye. The time in between
and the relationship that you develop is what you make of it, but never
forget that someday it will be over. I can't remember the day that I got
every dog I've ever owned, but I can remember the day that every one of them
died.

If Jay only has half a heart, maybe I have none. I don't know. But what I
do know, is that animals are only a part of my life and they only enter my
life to serve a purpose, even if that purpose is companionship. I'll never
care as much for any of our animals as I do for my family members or my
friends. When I loose an animal I never feel that I didn't spend enough
time with them. Animals remember short term events, they learn through
conditioning, they do not remember yesterday, last week, last month, last
year per say. When I loose a friend or family member I do and will always
feel that I hadn't spent enough time with them.

People, just like animals, are thankfully different.
Again, I'm sorry for your loss and we'll miss both you and Gail at OSH.

Jim





"RST Engineering" wrote in message
.. .
OK, so we care as much for our furry family as we do for each other.
Airplanes and dogs have equal weight in our eyes. And airplanes don't
sleep
on your feet on cold nights and lick your face awake in the morning.

Sorry, Jay, there is more to life than cold aluminum airframes and hard
steel engines. No, this is not an imposter scamming my addy, and if you
had
half a heart you'd understand how bad I'm hurting from my loss.

Jim




You're missing OSH '06 to train a puppy? No way.

This *has* to be an imposter, scamming Jim's email address...right?