{"id":4396,"date":"2015-04-06T21:08:07","date_gmt":"2015-04-07T05:08:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/?p=4396"},"modified":"2015-04-06T21:11:48","modified_gmt":"2015-04-07T05:11:48","slug":"loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/archives\/4396","title":{"rendered":"Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

May I even suggest that losing a dog is like losing a limb.<\/p>\n

No, some might say, that would devalue the experience of those who have actually lost a limb.<\/p>\n

And I would say that might devalue our experience of actually losing a dog.<\/p>\n

What both victims of loss have in common, I’m sure, is the wish that the loss could be undone.<\/p>\n

…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Just wanted to reassure you we are still here. Futilely wishing we could unring a bell.<\/p>\n

I suppose that for so many people for whom a dog is merely a furry little head to pat once or twice a day, but otherwise to be left in the backyard on a leash for hours on end, or inside some cage much of the day, freed only briefly when it suits its<\/em> Master’s needs, then excessive emoting over the loss of a dog must seem…I don’t know, pathological.<\/p>\n

If you think that then fine, please recommend us a treatment. I would try it. Because what we’re feeling is no good.<\/p>\n

I don’t mean to devalue other peoples’ experiences with their dogs or their personal feelings of loss.<\/p>\n

I only know how much time and devotion we — myself, yes, but especially Happy Wife via Harry — invested in our dogs. Was it extraordinary? Yes, I’m pretty sure it was.<\/p>\n

We’re not seeking anyone’s praise or merit badge — being our dogs companions the past 12+ years was its own reward.<\/p>\n

I only mention it to emphasize just how much of our time we’ve spent in the company of dogs. Hell, I once estimated<\/a> conservatively<\/em> that I walked\/biked over 6000 miles with Rufus. A great deal of that was with Rufus and Lucy, and then more with just Lucy after Rufus died, and then a little more with just Harry.<\/p>\n

In all that time they become part of you. Kind of like a leg, or an arm, an inseparable part of who you are.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May I even suggest that losing a dog is like losing a limb. No, some might say, that would devalue the experience of those who have actually lost a limb. And I would say that might devalue our experience of actually losing a dog. What both victims of loss have in common, I’m sure, is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wikipediapreview_detectlinks":true,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4396","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4396"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4409,"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4396\/revisions\/4409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4396"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4396"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rknibbe.com\/Wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4396"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}