I have two good friends that I would let borrow my dogs. They wouldn't leave the woods until they found my dog dead or alive when I would've just went and looked for them the next day.
If one of my dogs gets killed oh well, there is more out there that will find a hog, it ain't going to change a thing if you are there or not if they get on a rank one that gets em.
My dogs are tools to me, no emotional attachment at all.
As hunters/outdoorsman it seems that we have a greater respect for nature and the outdoors than most people. We spend countless hours in the woods and swamps learning to become closer to nature and learning all we can about the wildlife that is found there. I know that the majority of us believe that there is higher power out there that made nature possible for us to enjoy. With that being said why is it you think that some hunters/outdoorsman look at a dog, which is a living breathing creature with obvious capabilities of expressing emotion, as just a tool? Again i totally respect that not everyone thinks alike i just am interested in this school of thought. For example; Does a general in the army, whose only goal is to win a war, view the men under his command as merely tools to get a job done? I probably opened up a can of worms but........im bored......lol.