When I lose one of my companions I find myself sitting at the computer reminiscing about that particular dog. I begin the entry with dates of birth & death & proceed from there in a rather stream of consciousness fashion to recall highlights of life with that dog. Periodically, but not necessarily on the anniversary of that dog's death, I reread what I've written & just let the tears quietly flow.

Dr. Khuly, I'm so very sorry about your Sophie Sue. Hopefully the Sophie Sue-sized hole in your heart is starting to be filled with warm memories.

When I lose a kitty, I save the emails, cards and expressions of sympathy. From time to time, I go back and read the messages. Yes, it still brings tears even years later.

I silently thank each for the lessons they shared with me (a couple in particular taught me a great deal about doing BG testing at home, kidney failure and cancer). I also thank them for being patient with my fumbling ways when learning how to take care of their medical needs properly.

Reaching out to friends who share the same love of critters and who understand the deep sense of loss, while bringing more tears, is a nice way to remember our furry friends who were with us for too short of a time.

Dr. Khuly:

I am so sorry for your loss of Sophie Sue. She looks like she was a lovely frog dog. I love Frenchies and I've always wished wished that all dogs could live forever, but then what lessons could they teach us?

I have have memorialized all the dogs that graced my life in recent memory on FindAGrave.com. I did this because I wanted to share just a tiny part of the life I had with them - with the world. I also like to look at their pictures and think back to the "good old days". Yes, I do like to reminisce.

My most recent loss is Toby. He was an incredible find on hot summer day! He was trying to cross a 4 lane highway near my home. Well, the rest was history and now he's gone too...But, his story and the story of my other beloved dogs and cats can be found here:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=vcsr&GSvcid=110378
I have their ashes, all of them, and they will be mixed with mine when I die. In the mean time, I can look them up on the web and think about the good times and remember them because they were indeed family members.

Dr. Khuly,

What a wonderful way to memorialize Sophie Sue. Planting a forever tree. I wrote about my beloved Timo, gone to the Bridge after her battle with osteosarcoma on the Pet Wiki. She's buried in my garden under her favorite tree. Although next month will mark her one year anniversary at the Bridge, I still miss her so. I'm sorry I didn't write about all the pets I've lost through the years, but they are always in my heart. As I'm sure Sophie Sue will always be a part of your heart.

My deepest sympathy on the loss of your Sophie Sue. I have all my dogs cremated and their ashes sit on a shelf in my bedroom along with a framed picture of each of them on top of their box. I often take them down and look inside their box at their ashes and the little tags from each of their collars. When I die, there are instructions to have me cremated and their ashes along with mine will be scattered together. Each one of them held a special place in my heart.

Aww, Sophie Sue was a sweetie! I can see it in the picture. I am very sorry for your loss, Dr. Khuly.

Sometimes it's very dificult to grieve the loss of our pets because people around us may not understand how important a pet can be in our lives. I found this article really useful: http://www.thedailytail.com/nonfiction/how-to-cope-with-pet-grieving/

Sophie Sue was adorable! I'm so sorry about her loss. She was lucky to have had you as her owner.

My mother and I have a small pet cemetery in her backyard. We put flowers regularly, and there are also a few cat and dog memorials. We are happy to be able to visit these graves and recall the wonderful memories of these precious creatures.

Heather, I had no idea findagrave.com did this. I stumbled upon it while searching for the grave of a young man killed in WWII's Battle of the Atlantic. My mother taught Warren in Sunday School and still talks about him. I really didn't know if it was a legit site or not. If you have any other input about it, please let me know.

Thanks, Dr. Khuly, for this wonderful forum.

Wonderful comments from everyone.
I really love what TheOldBroad said. I too try to remember all the lessons my best friends have taught me.

My own personal way to remember is: I go on petfinder and type in the name of a particular pet I had. When I find dogs matching that name I go to the different rescue groups and look for a dog that needs medical care and make a donation for its care and say in my message this in "memory of ".

Hard to believe its been a whole year, warmest condolences...

We celebrate Jerry's life by lighting his remembrance candle on the third of every month. He passed on October 3, 2008.

After we set Jerry free, a Tripawds member sent us a tall prayer candle they customized with his photo and a blessing. Now his light shines bright an all anniversaries of his passing. In the virtual realm, we host a Live Chat and post in our Coping With Loss discussion forum any time we feel the need to reach out to others about missing our furry soul mate.

I like hearing how you are making tributes to Sophie Sue, and how others remember their pets. I don't actually do a lot to remember my pets. Often it's the little things that get me thinking of pets who have died. I have ClayPaws prints of several pets, and wish I had them for pets who died before I knew about them.

I vote for the tattoo.

I generally recommend waiting six months to a year after losing a pet before committing to any ink - it's a really popular thing to do where I live.

If you still want a permanent reminder after a year, go for it.

It's just ink, and it's just skin. Make sure you get it somewhere that's easy to cover up - or you could just get it somewhere that's always covered, and that way it's just for you.

I've had a tattoo since I was 17 and most of my closest friends don't even know I have it. Cash is the only thing preventing me from getting more - that and I can't decide on exactly what I want to get to memorialize my guy we lost in late 2008.

In the meantime, we've seen dozens of incredible dogs depart for the bridge, and all I can tell you is that Sophie Sue is in very good company indeed.

I am so sorry for your loss Dr. Khuly. I truly know how you feel. She was a cutie, wasn't she !!

I lost Honey in May 2008, 1 wk. short of her 16th birthday. She had rectal cancer and dementia. I had Honey since her birth because I also had her mother and father, so I tend to think we had a special bond. I was there when she was born and there when she began to open her eyes. We had a litter of 6 pups and I wanted to keep one just for me. One day I was sitting in the floor of the kitchen and I just wanted to see which one might come to me and it was then that Honey chose me for her mom. From then on, we were inseparable! I loved her more than anything in the world. I actually think I loved her more than the husband!!! We buried her in our corner ginger lily flower bed. It smells so good during the summer. Honey always loved to smell the flowers in the yard and I plant flowers there each year until the ginger lilies began to take off and bloom. I found a statue at a garden shop in our area while I was looking for flowers; it's a honey colored cocker spaniel just sitting and I absolutely love it. Honey was also a honey color so it just looks so much like her. I have it sitting on top of one of the brick lining the bed of flowers. I visit her grave everyday and still cry as I am now. I miss her so much.
My vet put me in touch with a breeder and I know have Abbie Bella, whom is a Blue Merle cocker spaniel. Maxed out at 23lbs. I saw her photo on the breeder's website and she was the only one left. Karen's pups are usually all promised after she puts out notice that one is pregnant. I truly felt like God led me to Karen and Abbie was chosen for me. It truly was love at first sight. I went to see her the next day and went every weekend to bond with her until I brought her home. She's white, black, chocolate and buff and has blue eyes. Yes, she is adorable and her and the 14 1/2 yr. old cocker we have, are the sunshine of my day! We rescued our 14yr. old when she was 5yrs. She is also a honey color and her name is Buggie Boo Boo. They both give me something each day to live for, as my world would not be complete without them.

I would be great if you could put up a page for us to post photos !!!! hint, hint, hint !!!

I continue to send money to the shelter in memory of my wonderful old dog Harvey, who will be gone two years next week.

I will forever be grateful to the people in that shelter who saved him from a horrible situation and sheltered him for over a year, and then sheltered him again, an old black scarred-up pit bull, after he was returned to them. I only had him in my home for 15 months, but I will have him in my heart forever.

I lost my sweet Cardigan Corgi just 2 weeks shy of his 17th birthday in July 2003. I'd had him since a tiny baby and his loss was very heart-wrenching. In the days following his death, it went through every photo album and envelope filled with
photos, and picked out my favorites from throughout his life. I assembled all of these into one central album. Every July in the period between his death and his b-day (July 15-29th), I put the album out where I see it, along with some flowers, and I spend time going through the pictures. And of course, I cry. He was a wonderful dog, and thanks to knowing him, I now share my life with 2 more Cardis. What a delightful breed they are!

Early one morning I scattered most of my horse's ashes in an area where we used to ride. The remainder are to be mingled with mine before all our ashes are scattered, someday.

I have a paw print tattoo on my ankle- to remember all my canine friends that have gone before me.

I once saw the most awesome tattoo in memorial of a frenchie (we had our frenchies with us, and the tattoo owner approached us to talk about hers who had passed at only 2 years of age)

It was a stylized line drawing of a frenchie face- but his bat ears titled in and the whole face became a heart

Go for the ink- you won't regret it if it's in memorium- it would be like regretting Sophie Sue

Dear Dr Khuly:

Thank you for that wonderful blog. I never thought of planting a tree in a pet's memory. I hope I have to wait a long, long, long time to think about this, but YOU planted a seed in this woman's head and I thank you (again) for it.

When God recreates the New Earth he will recreate not only humans but animals. He has promised this in his Word. He has also promised us great joy and happiness and being our Creater Father who loves us above all else he has asked us set our requests before Him. One of the requests if not the first one I will make is for all of my pets to be recreated and given to me. I firmly believe this will happen and it is based on Scripture. Animals are important to God. He created them before man, he had Noah save them from the flood and they were present at the birth of his son.

Bless Sophie Sue and all the past & present companion animals that enrich our lives.

I remember reading your blog that day not expecting that only 5 days later my beloved husky Tundra would succumb to his cancer. It was a comfort to me somehow that you had been able to put your feelings out here for the rest of us.

I still plan to have a paw print tattoo done for both my guys who have passed since they have definitely left their pawprints on me forever.

I spread some of Tundra's ashes in places he loved and kept the rest - I will be going back to one of those places in the mountains this weekend to mark the anniversary.

Just a quick word about online memorials and Find A Grave.
They are perfectly legitimate online memorial site and I've had my pets and some relatives posted there for some time. In fact my first memorial for, Sasha a Beagle/German Shepherd Dog/Sheltie mix is posted there. Her memorial has been there since 2004.

I have sponsored many pages of graves of Boston Terriers, Bulldogs and other dogs that have gone before us. It is neat to look through even if you have no memorial to post. One of the best and interesting (at least to me) is Hartsdale Pet Cemetery that show the way people have remember and loved there pets for generations.
Here's a beautiful memorial for a Boston Terrier named Derby:
http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=25201377
It's history and it's love all wrapped up into one. What a great way to always remember the pets who graced our lives. We should never let their light burn out.

Loosing an animal is one of the hardest moments in life and I am still grieving about a dog I lost 25 years ago. The grief changes, in the beginning I clear away anything that reminds me of her, then after a while I can take out photos and remember good times we spent together and smile about the memories.
I do not remember their days of death, I celebrate their birthdays!
We would never leave them at the vets, we always take them home.

Dagmar

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