Betty White was the best. Dog. Ever. She died in January 2017. It was the longest relationship of my life (other than with my parents and sister who are required to like me). I've been grieving ever since and reading up a bit on grieving a pet. Turns out, there's quite a bit of research on that: Why we grieve pets, why the loss can be as hard or harder than the loss of a human friend and why, in spite of the pain, people usually go on to get another dog. As a society, we don't have widely accepted grief rituals around the loss of a pet. Should we? I may not answer that question but I will show some great pictures of a super cute dog who made me laugh every day and will make you fall in love, even if you are a cat person.

Marcia White grew up a veterinarian's daughter and has seen animals large and small be born, die, and experience almost every state in between. In the war between dogs and cats, she's firmly on the dog side.