I can hardly keep from tearing up for I have a hunting dog of almost 14 years now. He is not in good shape and I treasure every day. I have been around hunting dogs my whole life. I have never had better times than spent with them in the field. I have never had one tell me no I cant go hunting with you today. I have always felt they where the only partner who loved to hunt as much as me. Here is a poem from a book of mine Just Dogs.
The Power Of The Dog
Buy a pup and your money will buy
Love unflinching that cannot lie-
Perfect passion and worship fed
By a kick in the ribs or a pat on the head.
Nevertheless it is hardly fair
To risk your heart for a dog to tear.
When the fourteen years which nature permits
Are closing in asthma, or tumor, or fits,
And the vet's unspoken prescription runs
to lethal chambers or loaded guns,
then you will find-it's your own affair-
But. . .you've given your heart for a dog to tear.
We've sorrow enough in the natural way,
When it comes to burying christian clay.
Our loves are not given, but only lent,
At compound intrest of cent per cent.
Though its not always the case, I believe,
That the longer we've kept 'em the more we grieve:
For, when debts are payable, right or wrong,
A shot-time loan is as bad as a long-
So why in heaven(before we are there)
Should we give are hearts to a dog to tear?
Rudyard Kipling