there are few things in this world that can bring me to tears faster than hearing about/seeing animal abuse/neglect or coming across a story of an animal protecting its owner/mourning its deceased owner. granger learned early on in our relationship that if we were watching tv together and the ASPCA commercial featuring sarah mclaughlin came on (with "arms of an angel" playing in the background), he should immediately change the channel before they could show pictures of emaciated, abused, or neglected animals. otherwise, tears. lots of tears. he now has a Pavlovian-like response whenever he hears "...in the aaaaaarrrrrmmmmssss of an angel, may you fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiind some comfort here..." - he quite literally dives for the remote.
i can't think of an eloquent way to put it, so i'll just say it like this: animals are awesome. domestic pets show incredible loyalty to their people on a daily basis, and in times of emergency, some pets go way above and beyond to protect their people. just think of the story of gus leaping onto the narrow top of a 3 foot high fence to protect the construction workers in my parents' backyard from an oncoming rottweiler. knowing gus, who, while completely loveable, was lacking in the grace and brains department, this feat was quite astonishing. and then there are other stories of animals that are even more incredible. i challenge you: just try reading about these amazing animals who have saved lives, these loyal dogs, these elephants who mourned their caretaker, Hawkeye the labrador, or Patrick the pit bull without getting a little bit choked up. it's impossible.
i can't think of an eloquent way to put it, so i'll just say it like this: animals are awesome. domestic pets show incredible loyalty to their people on a daily basis, and in times of emergency, some pets go way above and beyond to protect their people. just think of the story of gus leaping onto the narrow top of a 3 foot high fence to protect the construction workers in my parents' backyard from an oncoming rottweiler. knowing gus, who, while completely loveable, was lacking in the grace and brains department, this feat was quite astonishing. and then there are other stories of animals that are even more incredible. i challenge you: just try reading about these amazing animals who have saved lives, these loyal dogs, these elephants who mourned their caretaker, Hawkeye the labrador, or Patrick the pit bull without getting a little bit choked up. it's impossible.
