Coping With Pet Death

When we lose an animal through pet death, our grief can be as intense as or even more than losing a loved one.

When one of my dogs died in the late 80's, my grief lasted a long time.

It was more than 10 years before I decided to get another dog, and that was only through my partner's insistence.

Even though I own three dogs now, Baggins still holds a special place in my heart.

A good way of coping with the death of your beloved pet is to either talk about your pet or write about all the memories you shared as I am doing. This is a great healing method for dealing with your grief.

Baggins, a Bearded Collie, was adored by everyone. She was very special to me and to those who knew her. My invitations from my friends always included her.

Whenever I thought about her, I felt guilty for all the scolding I gave her about silly things that I thought were important. In those days, I was very controlling.

Baggins had her quirks. She had a great need to be a part of my discussions. She would sit and look at each one of us in turn whenever we spoke and then would bark, as if giving her input in the conversation.

At the time I thought it was annoying. She just wanted to be included in all that I did, and she was. I took her everywhere I went, even wind surfing and cross country skiing which she enjoyed as much as I did.

If there was someone she didn't like, that person was not allowed near me. As a result, her behavior determined who my friends were.

If you were accepted, she was all over you, often resting her head on your foot or some part of your body. Writing about her now even brings tears to my eyes.

A Special Place In Your Heart

They are always dependent on us, and we lavish them with our love. We need to be aware that they can become replacements for children we didn’t have. There is a fine line here. We can go over board with buying all sorts of doggy treats, clothing, bedding and so on.

We need to remember that they are animals and not people, and also realize that they are not a replacement for human relationships.

At this time, I have three dogs – two females and one male who is a rescue dog that has been with me now for about 2 and 1/2 years. He is very much settled in now after wandering the country side where I live.

When he showed up, he was very emaciated and grungy-looking and his behavior was wild and uncontrollable. I had an extremely difficult time changing his patterns in the first few months since he was not used to being inside.

Needless to say, he also changed my behavior. I’ve learned to be more patient, flexible and understanding and less controlling towards all of my dogs.

I've finally named him Beau, as he has become such a beautiful dog.

He is more aggressive than my two females who are much older, and when he doesn't like my behavior, he barks and growls at me.

There have been frustrating times when I was ready to give him up. But, due to the insistence of my spiritual guide Abraham who told me that Beau is in my life for a reason, he is still with me.

Update: Since I wrote this page, my cat Pochi who was close to twenty years of age, finally passed on. I guess running this household became too much for him and it was time for him to go, so he passed his reins to Beau.

After his death, the house had an eerie silence for about two days. And my older Aussie, Marlo has finally stopped mourning after three months.

You can read about animal emotions at do dogs have emotions.

Yes, pet death not only affects us but our other animals too! Go to and read animal communications.

Back to what are emotions from pet death
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