To Dog or Not to Dog

I've owned a dog most of my adult life. There have been quite a few, the last being my old friend, Snoop, a fantastic golden retriever we lost a few years back. I love them. Their devotion and companionship is difficult to match.

This excerpt from O, The Oprah Magazine, by Martha Beck from August 2004 says it well:
     Dogs are my favorite role models. I want to work like a dog, doing what I was born to do with joy and purpose. I want to play like a dog, with total, jolly abandon. I want to love like a dog, with unabashed devotion and complete lack of concern about what people do for a living, how much money they have, or how much they weigh. The fact that we still live with dogs, even when we don't have to herd or hunt our dinner, gives me hope for humans and canines alike. 

(leave it alone; I'm not a regular reader of "O", the article happened to appear on one of the many reader apps on my iPad!)

Now that I'm retired with more free time available, I'm thinking more and more that it's time for another dog in the family. I'm thinking it would be wonderful to have a companion on neighborhood walks, during a drive to the store, and someone to talk with and have listen carefully to each word (while staring at you attentively and cocking their head slightly to one side—if you've ever had a dog, you know what I mean).

The jury is still in deliberation, but the first trial vote was 10 "for" and 2 "against".