Aw man, sorry to hear of Denny's sudden passing Rudi. The grief is huge, so sending you my best wishes. I mourned that dog more than some family members - and I mean that in the right way. They are with you all the time, the glue that sticks the family together.
What's that quote about dogs - "The world would be a nicer place if everyone had the ability to love as unconditionally as a dog"?
A few times I heard my wife sobbing in another room, and she did the same with me. You're either a dog person or you're not, and if you are, then they are your babies, no matter how old they are.
Truth here Rudi... we picked dogs who looked in some way like Smudge. Psychologists would say we are doing the wrong thing, and of course getting two dogs from the same litter is often frowned upon.
But when we discussed him and his traits, his quirks, his personality... then we realised that there was a dog shaped hole in our lives, so we got two to fill it. I never would have thought that days after our lad passing we would be discussing replacing him, let alone actually starting to do that.
These two fill the space that my mind wandered to. I still 'talk' to Smudge, when I see his photos, and sometimes I specifically look at his photos, but like grains of sands in an egg timer, the clarity of him is fading very slowly.
A family like yours has a lot of love to give a dog. We went straight to rescue dogs, but we couldn't get to see any of them, and as you know, rescue centres are rightfully choosy about who re-homes their 'litter'.
It seems to be working for us. You are right to have space. But I'd say dive right in pal...
