"There is nothing more certain to make big boys cry than the imminent loss of a loving pet. Indeed, unless one can truly say they have loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened and the depth of one's heart forever untouched.
Throughout most of my life I have always had an animal to protect and love. It is a fearful thing to love what death can touch and when they die, the loss of a pet can create as great a gap in one's life as that of the closest friend. Until such occasion, love knows not its own depth of loss until the hour of separation arrives.
The film star, Jack Lemon, whom I once met in Canada during 1963 in the hotel where I then worked, reminded me that death ends a life and not a relationship. I know in my heart such to be true and when I think upon past creatures whom I loved and lost, I may cry because it's over; but I will also smile and rejoice because it happened. My pets, past and present, remain a part of me; when they hurt, I hurt and when they die, so will part of me. Such cost is the only price a loving pet deserves." William Forde: April 9th, 2016.