No one who shares their life with an animal would mistake them for a mindless automaton. They feel, they love, they grieve. They speak with the langauge of the heart. When my father died, his cat was inconsolable for weeks. Years have past and he still will not sleep in my father's old chair. A friend of mine was telling me about two dogs she had. One was a young animal; the other was much older. The older female had to be put to sleep because of cancer. The younger one literally starved himself to death out of his grief for her. Thank you, Jon. I've been in that situation. How do you explain to a creature whose language we haven't bothered to learn? We expect them to understand what we say....we know so little of their communications. Take care.