"Would I shave a year of my life to extend a year of my dog's life?" 100% yes.
It ties in to another statistic in that Pet Survey. "Did I get a pet, and does my pet improve my mental health? "
As a person who has major depression disorder, my dogs have been with me day in and day out and often helped me in dark days better than medicine, therapy, or just about anything else. There are biological/psychological reasons to explain it (the dog's regulated needs help set consistency and contact both physical and emotional that people need to get out of their own heads and problems. This drives a deeper connection and frankly is the pattern that led dogs to become domesticated in the first place.) but needless to say that connection is so strong that you often hear people referring to their "soul dogs", and yes, I'd have done anything to give my Heidi more time the day at 15 she died of an unexpected heart attack with her head in my lap.
But I get it and I don't get riled up like others do with your perspective, Jason, my sister is like you and doesn't understand the connection either. She just thinks a dog is a dog and she's had as even more dogs than I have. You don't hate dog's, you just think of them differently.
"Would I shave a year of my life to extend a year of my dog's life?" 100% yes.
It ties in to another statistic in that Pet Survey. "Did I get a pet, and does my pet improve my mental health? "
As a person who has major depression disorder, my dogs have been with me day in and day out and often helped me in dark days better than medicine, therapy, or just about anything else. There are biological/psychological reasons to explain it (the dog's regulated needs help set consistency and contact both physical and emotional that people need to get out of their own heads and problems. This drives a deeper connection and frankly is the pattern that led dogs to become domesticated in the first place.) but needless to say that connection is so strong that you often hear people referring to their "soul dogs", and yes, I'd have done anything to give my Heidi more time the day at 15 she died of an unexpected heart attack with her head in my lap.
But I get it and I don't get riled up like others do with your perspective, Jason, my sister is like you and doesn't understand the connection either. She just thinks a dog is a dog and she's had as even more dogs than I have. You don't hate dog's, you just think of them differently.
I like this a lot John! I do think of them differently - I'm glad you found such a special connection!!! It's beautiful the way you describe it.