[FreepForever]

My heartfelt thanks for all of your kind words, tear jerkers and gentle pats. They are most needed and I do appreciate them.

If not with kind, understanding and generous people like you who lends a shoulder in difficult times like this, I don't know how I can get through this traumatic moment. For those who have recently lost their beloved pets like me, I think Gigi will love to play with your furry friends in Rainbow Bridge. I think God is a pet lover and there is doggy/kitty heaven too.

Freepers are much better people than clods who say: “Come on, it’s only a dog...”

[nyconse]

Only a heartless idiot would say, "it's only a dog". These are the same kind of people who when you miscarry a child, they say it wasn't really.... a baby. The same kind people who say, "at least you have other children", when you lose a child. They are total jerks and the best response is to ignore them.

[nyconse]

Also, you and Gigi are in my prayers.

[HairOfTheDog]

Lend Me a Pup

I will lend to you for awhile,
a pup, God said,
For you to love him while he lives
and mourn for him when he's dead.
Maybe for twelve or fourteen years,
or maybe two or three
But will you, 'till I call him back,
take care of him for me.
He'll bring his charms to gladden you
and (should his stay be brief)
you'll always have his memories
as solace for your grief.
I cannot promise he will stay,
since all from earth return
But there are lessons taught below
I want this pup to learn.

I've looked the whole world over
in search of teachers true
And from the folk that crowd's life's land
I have chosen you.
Now will you give him all your love
Nor think the labour vain,
Nor hate me when I come to take my Pup back again.

I fancied that I heard them say
"Dear Lord Thy Will be Done,"
For all the joys this Pup will bring,
the risk of grief we'll run.
We'll shelter him with tenderness
we'll love him while we may
And for the happiness we've known forever grateful stay
But should you call him back
much sooner than we've planned,
We'll brave the bitter grief that comes,
and try to understand.
If, by our love, we've managed,
your wishes to achieve
In memory of him we loved,
to help us while we grieve,
When our faithful bundle departs this world of strife,
We'll have yet another Pup and love him all his life.

-author unknown

[andysandmikesmom]

So sorry to hear of your loss...losing a dog, which has been your companion, your child, your soulmate, is just hearbreaking....

We have been having a lot of 'medical' problems, with the humans in our home lately, which has kept me from posting on FR, for the last month or so...I have been lurking, just posting...but your thread, has moved me to post once again...

On top of the human medical problems going on here, our beloved Dizzy, a huge Himalayan cat, dropped over dead, just a few weeks ago...he had been my sons cat, that adopted me when the son was gone trekking around the world...and so Dizzy remained with us after the son returned...

I had always been a dog person, never without a dog, but my sons prefered cats, so they always had cats, tho I seldom fooled around with them, preferring my dogs...but Dizzy the cat, was so sweet, so loveable, so much like a dog, that he stole my heart...I had him for only three years when he died, yet I cried so hard, when he left me...

I have had, and lost so many dogs in my life....three dogs are buried out back in the yard, and Dizzy lies next to them now...whenever one of my dogs dies, my heart just breaks....

I have also lost one of my children to leukemia, many years ago....so I know the difference between 'human' children and 'furry' children...and as one who has lost both, I can firmmly say, that altho the death of my older son devasted me, and will hurt my life forever, still, the death of my beloved pets has also wounded me so much....I am crying now, just thinking of my departed furry friends....

My last dog to die, was my Helga, a chubby, stubby, long, low, long-eared, slobbery, sweet Basset Hound....she wrapped my heart and my husbands heart around her thick chunky paw...and when she died, ate age 13, my husband and I so mourned her...she was pure delight, and our home, without her, was so very empty....

Mr. Dizzy, who I spoke of earlier, came to us some time after she died, and he filled that emptiness in our hearts and in our lives....

My husband always says, he wonders why its a fact of nature, that dogs and cats, live such short lives, in relation to our own...it hardly seems fair...we love them, they become our children, who never grow up...and then they age quicker than us, and then they go to the Rainbow Bridge...

Frankly, I never trust someone who says, "Come on, its only a dog"...what a cowardly, horrible thing to say...one who cannot give their hearts to a trusting loving pet, is someone not worth my time...

Let yourself mourn, and cry, and remember your dear furry childs life...you are a better person for having given your heart away, for whatever timeframe, long or short...

[4CJ]

I think God is a pet lover and there is doggy/kitty heaven too.

We lost one 17+ year old this past November, and then our 12 year-old in December. All of us, including the children, were in mourning. May God comfort you and yours.