Three years have passed since I said goodbye to my hairy man. This always helps me (not my words):
Dogs never die. They don’t know how to. They get tired, and very old, and their bones hurt. Of course they don’t die. If they did they would not want to always go for a walk, even long after their old bones say: ‘No, no, not a good idea. Let’s not go for a walk.’ Nope, dogs always want to go for a walk. They might get one step before their aging tendons collapse them into a heap on the floor, but that’s what dogs are. They walk.
It’s not that they dislike your company. On the contrary, a walk with you is all there is. Their boss, and the cacaphonic symphony of odor that the world is. Cat poop, another dog’s mark, a rotting chicken bone (exultation), and you. That’s what makes their world perfect, and in a perfect world death has no place.
However, dogs get very very sleepy. That’s the thing, you see. They don’t teach you that at the fancy university where they explain about quarks, gluons, and Keynesian economics. They know so much they forget that dogs never die. It’s a shame, really. Dogs have so much to offer and people just talk a lot.
When you think your dog has died, it has just fallen asleep in your heart. And by the way, it is wagging its tail madly, you see, and that’s why your chest hurts so much and you cry all the time. Who would not cry with a happy dog wagging its tail in their chest. Ouch! Wap wap wap wap wap, that hurts. But they only wag when they wake up. That’s when they say: ‘Thanks Boss! Thanks for a warm place to sleep and always next to your heart, the best place.’
When they first fall asleep, they wake up all the time, and that’s why, of course, you cry all the time. Wap, wap, wap. After a while they sleep more. (remember, a dog while is not a human while. You take your dog for walk, it’s a day full of adventure in an hour. Then you come home and it’s a week, well one of your days, but a week, really, before the dog gets another walk. No WONDER they love walks.)
Anyway, like I was saying, they fall asleep in your heart, and when they wake up, they wag their tail. After a few dog years, they sleep for longer naps, and you would too. They were a GOOD DOG all their life, and you both know it. It gets tiring being a good dog all the time, particularly when you get old and your bones hurt and you fall on your face and don’t want to go outside to pee when it is raining but do anyway, because you are a good dog. So understand, after they have been sleeping in your heart, they will sleep longer and longer.
But don’t get fooled. They are not ‘dead.’ There’s no such thing, really. They are sleeping in your heart, and they will wake up, usually when you’re not expecting it. It’s just who they are.
I feel sorry for people who don’t have dogs sleeping in their heart. You’ve missed so much. Excuse me, I have to go cry now.”
My deepest condolences to your loss. May your beloved dog rest in peace.💐
After our dog was put to sleep I lighted an online candle for him with heartfelt words. It helped. Plus imagining him crossing the rainbow bridge to play with other dogs.
I even found a heartfelt poem that brought me to tears but was a poem about how he is always by my side even tho I cant see him. That he is lively, in good health and frisky like he used to be and waiting for me until my time comes so we can be reunited.
Our little guy was put to sleep 9 years ago. I cried more over his passing than my parents. He was my little boy. My grief was so bad that we got another dog a week later! He helped immensely!!! His name is Sammy and he has brought us alot of joy.
I hope in time you feel better and just remember the good times with your pup.🤗
[i]imagining him crossing the rainbow bridge to play with other dogs[/i] ---true, this is what I imagine all the time...just to stop crying and being sad...that he's happy out there with his wagging tail and happy smile.
Every day, if I stop to consider it, the absence of a particular jingle or gait or vocalization or set of eyes or warm body or...
THAT is something to which one can become accustomed, but I don't think we ever get over, entirely, the loss any creature whom we truly have loved.
I have lost it nearly every time I have had to make that final, awful call (when I could), or otherwise have a pet pass. And when I remember that...*sigh* 🥺😥😭
@1Dogma awww 😞you have my deepest sympathy i can understand you are heartbroken as this was not just a pet it was a family member who showed you love and trust 😪✝️r.i.p
I am sorry that you lost your loving friend and family member. It is hard to say "goodbye." I have done it several times, and I cry every time. I think that is the only time I ever actually cry. I know it's stupid, but I sometimes talk to them, as if their doggie spirit is still hanging around.
@exexec I talked to him yesterday that if he's in so much pain, just let go. I was crying as I laid down on the floor with him while his head was nestled on my arm.
@1Dogma I'm glad you were with him at the end. I held my last two as they died. One was 13 and the other 14. Our current beagle is asleep in her bed by me in my home office.
@exexec I was with him all the time since the weekend that he started not to walk anymore. He didn't want me out of his sight. When I was upstairs, he did his best with his wobbly legs to climb up the stairs so I locked him in the bedroom, fed him there, hugged and talked to him.
