Get a Dog

Finger on the Pulse: A dog is for life in more ways than one - Telegraph: "'How are you feeling?' I asked. Mrs Leslie sighed, turned her face to the wall and pulled the sheets up to her chin. 'Do you think you are depressed?' I ventured. She shrugged. I sat down at the bottom of her bed.

'I miss Robbie,' she said after some time. I nodded. Mrs Leslie had been widowed two years earlier and was totally alone. 'Yes, it must be very hard,' I said sympathetically. 'How long were you and Robbie married?'

Mrs Leslie looked at me, puzzled, then shook her head. 'Robbie's my Jack Russell,' she said. 'I was married to my husband for 40 years, but God, I don't miss him.'"