When someone loses a pet, don’t say, "It’s just a dog." It’s not.

My own modest contribution to all this? For me, “there’s more serious stuff going on,” or “they’re not human” are precisely the reasons we grieve so much. Our bonds with our pets are our mental sanctuaries. Homer was my refuge: My reminder that however much pettiness, betrayal or bad faith that I — or people around me — might exhibit from time to time, there was such a thing as basic goodness. It emanated from him in episodes like all those silly moments that raced through my head in his final hour.

That’s how I accept the depth of my feelings for my deceased dog. He was just always there. He spent so much time looking after me — without even knowing it — that I returned the favor, even after he passed.