Thanks jaysmumagaim.
Phoenix, spot on. I have lost humans, and yes it hurt, but none of them compared to losing Chester. Perhaps there is something wrong with us, to feel the loss of a dog more than the loss of a human ? Having asked myself the same question, No, nothing wrong with us at all. A dog is our best friend, a family member, a part of our family life in every imaginable way, filling our homes with unconditional love, companionship, the glue that holds us together, the love and support in good and bad times, and losing all of that and much much more is excruciatingly painful, a numbing overwhelming loss that you never quite recover from. Dogs are so so special and to be truthful, other than my wife and daughter, I would take a cocker over most humans.
However, sanity is another question entirely, to actually miss laying in bed in the dark with chesters head on my pillow next to me, snoring in my ear, hot breath, and dribbling on my pillow is probably borderline lolol...... the unaccompanied visits to the bathroom, socks in same place you left them, slippers dry, toilet rolls intact, the lack of the thud on the window as Chester launched at a cat outside making you jump, food mysteriously evaporating into thin air, the careful rearranging of your sofa covers into a satisfactory heap on which to lay, the head in the shopping bag resulting in a 4 legged carrot leaving the kitchen, the objection and accompanying glare when you dared to eat fish (he deemed all fish to be his), all of these, strangely, I long for and miss with an ache in my very soul, so perhaps on balance, we dog owners are not in any way ...normal. Very glad to be ..not normal!
