He was an 11–12-year-old lab mix that my wife and I rescued in the latter half of his life, and even though we only had him for about six years, we created a lifetime of memories with him.Even nearly four months later, I still find myself thinking about the hole he left in our lives and there are times when doing even mundane tasks around the house reminds me of him.WOMAN'S CANCER BATTLE TAKES UNBELIEVABLE TURN WHEN HER DOG GETS SAME DIAGNOSISSometimes the smallest dogs can be the biggest annoyance.(Baloncici)I say all of this to underscore that I still probably haven't completely gotten over having to put him down back in March, so when talks started to commence in recent weeks about potentially looking for a new dog, I met those conversations with mixed emotions.The first time my wife mentioned thinking about "the next dog," my face scrunched in disgust.How could she even consider replacing Rooney so soon?Then I thought a little more about it and considered my two-year-old son, who only just started to develop a bond with Rooney right before we lost him.I got even more heartbroken imagining my son falling in love with the new dog, as the memory of Rooney slowly faded from his mind as he aged.WOMAN STALKED BY CHARGING BEAR ON MORNING DOG WALK CAPTURES TERRIFYING ENCOUNTER ON CAMERAYou don't want this (slightly messy) baby hopping into your duvet? (Photo courtesy of reader Jeff M.)Not to mention the fact that we still have another dog, Elle, who will probably have a full-on stroke if/when we bring a young, energetic puppy into our increasingly crowded house.I clearly wasn't handling the suggestion well, but I slept on it, and I'm not sure if it's just because my wife has worn me down, but I'm starting to see another side to this whole thing.Getting another dog doesn't mean forgetting Rooney entirely, and although there is still some scarring from losing him, the pain has been dulled significantly over the last few months.And does it really make a difference if we...