Life is sometimes unfair. Those of us who've owned dogs for a long time understand it's really unfair that a human's lifespan is so much longer than a dog's. And spending a dozen or more years with them, then sending them on their final journey when it's time . . . it never gets easier.
But for me, life isn't life without bird hunting. I've now reached an age where I'm thinking that maybe my youngest dog, now 2 years old, will be my last one. That's because I wonder how much hunting I'll be able to do in my 80's, which aren't that far away. But I intend to do everything I can to make sure that I can keep on enjoying dogs and bird hunting for as long as I can.
“I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time?"
Sir Walter Scott
