PerryMK,
I'm so sorry for your loss. Your avatar always makes me smile. There's a sweet tale of a little boy coming to terms with his dog's death and why dogs have shorter lives than us... “People are born so that they can learn how to live a good Life—like loving everybody all the time and being nice, right?” The six-year-old continued, “Well, dogs already know how to do that, so they don’t need to stay as long.”

But it still breaks our hearts. My thoughts are with you and all of those here that have lost their "best friends". Mine's getting older and has health issues, so I know our days together are numbered too.