Dogs lives are short, too short...

but you know that going in... You know the pain is coming, you're going to lose a dog, and there's going to be great anguish, so you live fully in the moment with them, never fail to share their joy or delight in their innocence, because you can't support the illusion that a dog can be your lifetime companion... There's such beauty in the hard honesty of that, in accepting and giving love while always aware it comes with an unbearable price... Maybe loving dogs is a way we do penance for all the other illusions we allow ourselves and for the mistakes we make because of those illusions...