Posted by finelinebob on August 19, 2006, at 14:53:48
In reply to Re: Remember those good times » wildcardII, posted by Dinah on August 19, 2006, at 12:03:30
It's so hard for me to post, because this just cuts too close to the bone, twice. Even given a "full life" we live so much longer than our pets, which led someone to say "dogs are born to die" -- a stark truth, really about all of us, but a truth we have to face several times if we cannot live without the company of our furry friends.
You're right -- the best you can do is love your dog as much as you can in the time she has left.
I adopted a puppy from the ASPCA, who supposedly had given all their animals up for adoption thorough medical exams. She died five days after I got her. For the first three days she had so much fun -- we spent a lot of time in Central Park and she got to do so many things dogs should be able to do that she probably never had the opportunity to do before. The last two days ... well, I don't want to describe them. But after she passed and I was having so much trouble dealing with the grief I had for a dog I'd known for five days, a very wise person reminded me that instead of dying in some anonymous cage, I gave her a home and a lifetime of love in just five days. Realizing the truth of that was the only comfort that mattered.
In the second case, well, some I hardly knew from the dog run gave me a picture he had taken of my dog and a copy of the Rainbow Bridge. If you don't know that story, your can find it at http://www.petloss.com/poems/maingrp/rainbowb.htm
One more resource that I found to be a great source of healing is this book: "Goodbye, Dear Friend: Coming to Terms with the Death of a Pet" by Virginia Ironside. It's sappy, it's light, it's just the sort of stuff I needed to lift a heavy heart.
'Nuff said. I'm going to go give my Leyna a hug for you and yours ... it's her fifth birthday today, and she needs to be told (again) how special and important and loved she is.
poster:finelinebob
thread:677886
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060819/msgs/678112.html