The old dog by Charlotte Zolotow & James Ransom

The old dog by Charlotte Zolotow, illustrations by James Ransome. Harper Collins, 1995.

Ben finds his old brown-and-white dog dead one morning. he doesn't understand why she won't wag her tail or open her eyes. Ben's dad explains it's because she's dead, but Ben still doesn't understand, he keeps expecting her to meet him at the door or bark at the ringing telephone. Ben cries when he realises that dead means that someone isn't there, and there's no old dog to comfort him. The end of the book is slightly spoilt by the quick replacement of the old dog with a young Dalmatian puppy.