yea i've begun to notice this sort of strange mental connection Tony seems to share with animals throughout the series.

Season 1 - The ducks obviously, Tony becomes deeply saddened when they leave, has dreams about them symbolically taking his manhood.

Season 4 - The horse, as previously mentioned. Tony literally beating Ralph to death b/c he thinks he had the horse killed.

Season 5 - The bear metaphor, Tony invading Carmella's privacy mentally and also coming into her home near the end. And also the Fran Felstein (sp?) episode when Tony becomes very upset when he finds out that his dog was given to Fran by his father years ago.

I've been meaning to look into this further, see if there's anything for seasons 2 and 3.

I'm really gonna make sure I look for any animals in season 6, it must mean something.