Your post made me think about what happened to me recently. All 3 of my babies love me, but in their own special way.. When I got out of the hospital at the beginning of the month, when hubby let them out of the kitchen, Baxter was the first one out of the gate, he ran up to me and I picked him up and kissed him, and then he squirmed to be put down...he ran out the front door in a flash, to our neighbors yard, looking for buried bones
Cooper let out a sharp, single happy bark when he saw me, and ran as fast as he could to me, jumping up at me and I sat down on the floor, and he stood on his hind legs and "hugged" me, and was sniffing all over me, you could tell he was trying to figure out where Mom has been. Darcy hung back until Cooper sat down on my lap, then she was right by my side, with her head on my thigh, collecting her loving. Cooper never left my side the entire day.
So, yes, I know what it feels like to look at them and get a lump in my throat. I am not ashamed to say I cried like a baby when I got home, I missed waking up to them, and going to sleep with them. There will never be a human on this earth as devoted to me as my dogs, I have a cold and was in bed most of the day Saturday, and Cooper never left the bed.
Also, this may be a coincidence (or not) but Baxter has always slept thru the night. Lately, he has been crying to be put down in the wee hours of the morning. Every time it has happened, I woke up feeling funny, and my blood sugar was too low. What a blessing they have been to me!