Hi everybody. I'm back after a long absence again. Been busy writing and stuff. But it's summer and an SK novel is what I read right now. Mr. Mercedes in french translation. I noticed that, again there is a dog in the story and I'm afraid to read about dogs and other animals. You know why? They die most of the time. I recall the cat in Pet Semetary, Cujo of course, deers in Dreamcatchers, and so on. Now that golden retriever in Mr. Mercedes gives me creeps. I'm an animal lover, and the thing that scares me the most is to read about animals being mistreated ( don' know if I use the right word ). But I read that SK owns dogs. I know that he's also an animal lover. He must hate writing about an animal being badly handled. So any reflections you guys on this? I am worndering if I am the only one being affected by reading those lines.