Recently, my cairn terrier was hit and killed by a car while I was visiting my parents house. Normally, she was never off leash but while visiting them I usually let her run a bit free in the country. I have another cairn that was a little older but they were very close and my wife and I are having a very hard time dealing with it. We were married last year and have no kids (yet at least) Our dogs are/were a huge part of our lives and I just had no idea how hard it could be to lose (as other people have been saying "just a dog.") I feel great guilt having let her run free in spite of the fact that my wife always disagreed with me letting her. I did it out of love knowing she loved it and always reasoned that if constantly leashed and kenneled then if she ever got out she'd be gone. I was the one who discovered her and ignorantly thought she was stretching out in the street. I drove up and then realized that she'd been hit and knew she was gone as soon as I saw her little face and eyes wide open and now that image haunts me. I don't feel like I can really talk to anyone but my wife about what I feel but it just hurts so much and I miss my little girl so badly that its as if she was a child. I also feel so sorry for my other male terrier and that he is lonely and misses his friend. I worry that he'll never develop another bond with another dog like he did with her and that breaks my heart to think about.
