MarkC,
We had a buff colored Cocker Spaniel named "Dudley" got him when my daughter was about 2 1/2 and son was 6 months. He was about 12 yrs old and was a really good dog for the most part. I was there with him for his last breath, didn't want to be but glad I was! Son wanted to get another dog right away but we also have a cat, she's about 17 and showing age, wife wants her to go before we think about another dog. Funny thing, we rarely saw rabbits in the back yard when we had the Dudley, now we see them all of the time.
Dudley even had a really scraggely fox backed up against the house one time, I could see every tooth in the fox's mouth, had to scream at the dog to get him to look away from the fox and then the fox dissappeared. Two days ago, had a beautiful gray fox practically fly across the road in front of my daughter and I in the car, it was really cool looking.
JimBinMI
We boys and our toys!