h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Sorry about your Rains I can imagine how you feel! But trust me - after a while, even though the sadness won't go, the good memories will come more into focus!
And it will feel better!

Thanks - I've been really comforted by how understanding people have been, both here on hootoo and in RL .

We had him since he was a pup, and he was 14 when he died, so we have many years of his quirkiness to remember! It wasn't a total surprise when he went, as he had so many things wrong with him it was almost a relief to let him go (if that makes sense).

Hope you have many years left of fun with your dog . What is it?

I've got a cocker spaniel. Brown,English. His name is Jerry He is almost 8 now.

His grandfather was our dog. He got sick at the age of 6 and died It was very, very sad, not least because it was so unexpected. He was a bit down for some time and it seems that this made him more easy target for some flue that was going around at the time...

Anyway. It was very hard on all of us after Roger died and we decided never, ever, to take a dog again. But suddenly, 4 years later, a friend of ours phoned and said that the daughter of Roger got puppies and wouldn't we like to have one It was a hard decision I can tell you! Felt almost like a betrayal! But than we decided to try and.. We fell in love with Jerry at the first sight. And never felt guilty again

Isn't it amazing how much a dog can give you?

Oh yes, dogs always give you back far more than you put in. I'm far more a dog person than a cat person. Dogs miss you, greet you when you come back home, and complain like hell if you haven't brought them anything. They become so much a part of the family, too.

name for a spaniel (Jerry Springer ). They're nuts, spaniels. 6 seems a very young age for a dog to die; and it must have been so much of a shock .

Ours was a Jack Russell/English Bull Terrier cross called Henry; he was white apart from a brindle patch on the left side of his head. He first started with diabetes about 2 years ago, and then last year he was diagnosed with Cushings Disease (a tumour on the pituitary gland which overstimulates the adrenal glands) and then, about 5 weeks before he died, he was diagnosed with leukaemia as well. So he really wasn't a well little dog.

We got Henry from some friends of our neighbours; they worked all day, and basically he wasn't coping very well with being on his own all day, so they wanted to give him away.

A few months before that we'd had to have our last dog put down (Tammy, a Jack Russell) because she had epilepsy and was becoming nastier. She was 4, and I really fought against having her put down, but really we had no choice. After that mum and dad declared they were never going to have another dog, but then Henry came along.

This time, they're determined not to have another dog, and I think they'll actually stick to it this time. Henry going hit my mum hard, as she used to be at home with him all day, and I don't think she wants to think about it happening again.

Besides, Henry really was irreplaceable. All dogs have their quirks, and he certainly did. When we first got him, he used to have a human baby's dummy that he used to suck on, and he'd sulk if you took it off him. I've never known a dog sulk like him .

I know how you feel about it being a betrayal, in a way - it's the old "being loyal to their memory" thing, isn't it?

Exactly - "loyal to the memory" and not wanting to feel the new dog is a replacement... I was actually worried that the new puppy will not feel good with us, since we are going to compare and expect more. It wasn't like that though - you see the difference but in a positive way!

Isn't it actually strange that we don't feel like that about people? I mean we have more than one friend without feeling guilty! May be there is a space for only one dog in some peoples' minds?

Jerry more like in Tom & Jerry - he definitely has the mischief qualities And yes, spaniels are nuts - that's what I like in them!
Haven't met many Jack Russells but I have the impression that they are equally lively dogs, aren't they?

, a friend of mine had a springer spaniel and used to joke about calling it Jerry. But as in Tom & Jerry, that's . Yes, they do have that mischief factor - they seem such happy dogs, too.

Jack Russells can be very lively. They seem to have a fighting attitude, in that if they think something belongs to them, they're not going to let you grab it without a fight. They do like chasing after things, chewing things and ripping things up; which so long as you keep them supplied with toys and train them not to attack the furniture, can be fun. I don't think they're too keen on being with children, though.

It is odd that we don't feel about people that way... but I guess we feel they're more like our relatives than our friends, so it'd be like a new brother or sister. Or at least, that was how I reasoned it

"It is odd that we don't feel about people that way... but I guess we feel they're more like our relatives than our friends, so it'd be like a new brother or sister."

I liked that one!

Yes, I think you are right! We do put our pets very close to our hearts, just like our families.