Lost my best friend last night.  My little dog, suffering from cancer, finally reached the point where I had to do my duty.

Some analysts say dogs only are attentive because the "master" is the pack leader.  After all, regardless of how we have genetically modified them to suit our whims or purposes, they are domesticated wolves.

But the truth is, if you truly offer a dog more than just food, she will return it tenfold.  There is no love like the love of a dog.

Now, I have survived the first thirty hours of grieving.  I am familiar with Kubler-Ross and the five stages of grief.  I said to myself, I won't grieve, because to allow her to continue would only generate suffering.  But I was kidding myself.

I miss her terribly and ever since she was picked up as a near-death refugee from the streets of Miami, I had built my life and my habit patterns around her.

It's the little things that get you when your dog leaves.  If you have suffered the loss of any loved one, you will know what I mean.  If not, I can guarantee you that you have nothing good to look forward to.

Now, I am alone.  I will find me another little refugee who needs a friend, an old man sitting in a small house in a very nondescript Central Florida town with no friends, and enemies and traitors all around.

You can never replace a dog.  You can only get another one to nurture and to love.  You will be repaid by unquestionable loyalty and empathy.  You will be rewarded with love.