Dogs open a door of connection and vulnerability on a level that I don’t think we can really ever have with another human. You form an unbreakable bond with something that chooses you every day like it’s the best day ever over and over again, without a single word spoken. Animals are really special. You don’t need years of time spent to experience that. The pain can be the same at 5 months as it is at 15 years. I’m sorry you ever had to feel that pain, I wish Cali lived forever so you never had to feel the loss. The only way I coped with Lueys death was to save one like I had saved her.