<p>My condolences on the loss of one of your family members. :(</p>
<p>Condolences here too…</p>
<p>CGM, I am sorry for your loss.</p>
<p>So sorry about your dog. GGRRR to spiders.</p>
<p>thanks, it is just so weird, waiting to hear her bark</p>
<p>I have never seen my H cry like that, he felt dizzy and thought he would faint</p>
<p>She was his pet, his girl, she got all th good massages, and he fell in love with her immediately</p>
<p>THis is so hard on him right now…we have her collar laying on her bed…and put up a notice at our dog park…she always had shotgun when I drove them around…what a big hole there is</p>
<p>well, in a few weeks or so, we may consider fostering a border collie, we have the room and the capability…</p>
<p>Dear CGM and family,</p>
<p>My family is so very sorry for your loss. We have been a dog family for many years; we currently own two rescue dogs…a little black lab mix named Carrie (after the Hollies song, Carrie Anne) and a little Teddy Roosevelt terrier (named Storm, after the Lena Horne song Stormy Weather and the Classics IV song Stormy) . About a year ago we lost our then 11-year-old black lab mix (named Walker, after Walker Texas Ranger) to seizures brought on by an undiagnosed brain tumor. It happened so quickly, we were all in shock. She was our son’s first dog.</p>
<p>We know so well how difficult it is. When our Walker was euthanized, to keep her from suffering further, we had her cremated and her ashes placed in a beautiful wood box. The box sits, wrapped in a rich blue velvet sack, on a half-wall between our formal and informal living areas. We placed her collar, some mementos, and some loving notes together there. We love that she is always with us. In fact, when we named our two new pups (one adopted one week after Walker passed, the other about 6 months later), we formally named them Walker’s Beloved Carrie Ann [sic] and Walker’s Beloved Stormy Weather.</p>
<p>We want to direct you and your family to a wonderful website where you can work through your grief. Its URL is <a href=“http://www.petloss.com%5B/url%5D”>http://www.petloss.com</a>. There is much wisdom and comfort at the site. And, each Monday evening they sponsor the most wonderful and moving chat room-based candlelight ceremony (The Monday Pet Loss Candle Ceremony) where the webmaster (who is a wonderful man and pet owner) puts up tender readings and invites participants to light candles at home: the first to honor the pet of the participant, the second to honor the pets of others, the third to honor those pets who might otherwise be forgotten or neglected. It is truly a remarkable site known throughout the world. The chat room is open 24/7, and you will often find people from around the country and the world dropping by to share their stories and remembrances and to support each other. Typically, each candle lighting ceremony draws upwards of 100 participants. There is also a place to post a tribute. When our dear Walker died, this site was such a comfort. We highly recommend it.</p>
<p>Another site, <a href=“http://www.in-memory-of-pets.com%5B/url%5D”>www.in-memory-of-pets.com</a>, offers a wonderful place to post a tribute, including music, picture, and eternal flame. We have posted a tribute to our Walker there. Also, recommended.</p>
<p>There is a third site where we posted a very moving tribute to four cats we shared our home with when we were first married, but at the moment I’ve forgotten the URL. I’ll try to find it and post again.</p>
<p>Please take each day as it comes. While it is so difficult at first, there will come a time when good memories will supplant the sad ones. For us, it meant getting right back in the saddle and adopting needy rescues to give them the love that we felt for Walker. For others, it might mean a different path. Do know that your feelings are very real and that other animal lovers understand your sorrow. Much love to you and your family.</p>
<p>With love,
OrangeBlossom</p>
<p>PS – My husband wished to add these words:</p>
<p>I’m very deeply sorry for your loss. My family lost its treasured lab mix in March 2006. She was very sick. We had to say farewell to her until we meet her again at Rainbow Bridge.</p>
<p>You will cry and work through your grief as best you can. In this ordeal you can take comfort in the fact that you made a wonderful difference in your pet’s life with your unconditional love and devotion. God bless you and your family.</p>
<p>***May I (OrangeBlossom) add that my husband probably took the loss worse than our son and I did. I think he just keeps all his emotions all bottled up inside. Periodically, even now, he drops off little notes, poems, and mementos on her “prayer wall”. I guess it’s his way of coping and showing his continued love. While death separates us physically, love resides with us always and never dies. As Gretchen Jackson (one of racehorse Barbaro’s owners) said, “Grief is the price we all pay for love.” <3</p>
<p>thank you for the links, that is wonderful</p>
<p>CGM, instead of the border collie, there’s a really cool cat, you can have her for a bargain :)</p>
<p>(Sorry, couldn’t resist…)</p>
<p>think my other three dogs would not handle that well :0</p>
<p>Please add my condolences to all of those from the kind people here. Losing a pet is so painful. I’m glad your friend did not suffer much. Enjoy your memories.</p>
<p>CGM, I am sorry for the loss of your beautiful family member. I hope and pray that the happy memories you shared with your sweet doggie will help get you through this very rough time. </p>
<p>OrangeBlossom, I appreciate the links you shared with CGM - I have a 14 1/2 year old sweetheart doggie who likely won’t make it through the summer. DS1 is out of town until July 27 and I can only hope he’ll make it home for one last farewell to his protector who has lived for him since he was a 2 year old wild child - I’ve never seen such a connection between a child and his dog (and we’ve lost 4 other dogs to disease, age and snakes over the past 9 years). I know DS1 will be devastated if he can’t be home to be with her, but if he can’t make it in time, he’ll be able to visit her prayer wall that we’ll set up.</p>
<p>(((((to all)))))</p>
<p>cgm…just logged on and saw your sad news. I’m so sorry to hear about Trixie and will be thinking of you and your family. Dogs are special aren’t they? Having always been a cat owner and lover, I was amazed to find, after acquiring a certain sassy little chihuahua, that I am actually more of a dog person. (And yes chihuahuas ARE real dogs…lol!) </p>
<p>I hope helping out a new pup in need will ease you and your family on your sad days.</p>
<p>Btw…brown recluse spiders are terrible. ldgirl was bitten by one during 8th grade when she and her fellow Student Council members were cleaning out the school concession stand (which backed up to a densely wooded area) before the first football game of the season. Crawled up her pant leg and bit her on the side of her calf. That evening the bite was tiny red dots, seemingly not serious at all; the next day she had a hot red stripe running up her leg. She ended up losing tissue about the size of a quarter in the area of the bite. It has taken years to heal over completely. Doctor said she was very lucky not to have had skin grafts and more serious consequences. I hope everyone educates themselves about the habitat and danger of brown recluse spiders.</p>
<p>Citygirlsmom, I’m so sorry about your loss. My own dog died very suddenly just a month ago, and we are still very sad. One evening, he seemed fine, even played by the pool and barked at the neighbors. An hour later, I realized he was ill when he refused a treat. While my husband called vets (it was on a friday evening, and no one was open), I continued to watch him. Over a 30 minute period he got drastically sick, and we put him in the car to go to the emergency vet. He died about 5 minutes after we left the house. We have felt robbed – we had no time to prepare, no time to say goodbye, no time to absorb it. We believe he died from a heart defect, but we will never be certain. He was only 9 years old, and had always been so healthy that our vet told us she was sure he would live to a ripe old age. We have lost dogs before, from old age or illness, but this is the first time we have had such a sudden loss. It is a very different experience, and has been much more difficult to deal with. So I send you my sympathies!</p>
<p>The only thing I am grateful for is that we were home, so he wasn’t alone when he died.</p>
<p>I still hear him in the house – I can be sitting at the computer and I swear I hear him breathing behind me. The house is a very empty place with him gone.</p>
<p>cgm,
Our thoughts and prayers go out to you…our four legged friends are so much a part of our families.<br>
CountingDown (Kira the border/beagle’s mom)
P.S. My brother was bitten by a brown recluse when he was in thrid grade. Took a year to heal, and he still has the scar. Nasty, necrotizing wound!</p>
<p>Orchid_2010 -</p>
<p>I’m so sorry about your loss. There are no words to express how much the passing of a beloved pet hurts. Take some measure of comfort in the fact that you were there for your sweet boy, and that he felt your love surrounding him.</p>
<p>Perhaps in time you and your husband may come to feel that the love you had for your little one can spill over and save some other lonely dog.</p>
<p>Love, OB</p>
<p>As our children begin the slow dance of leaving us somewhere around middle school or the beginning of high school, our doggies fill in as surrogate children whom we may love to pieces in a way that we can’t get away with any longer with our half-grown human children. I know several women whose kids are in various stages of leaving the nest who refer to their dogs as the loves of their lives. </p>
<p>So sorry about your puppy…</p>
<p>CGM, I just found your post. My sincerest sympathies on the passing of Trixie. Our family fosters Golden Retrievers and I’ve heard heartbreaking tales over the years. Dogs give us wonderfully unconditional love. </p>
<p>Trixie knew you loved her right up to the very end. That’s all she wanted. She was happy being loved by you and you did the best for her that you could.</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.petloss.com%5B/url%5D”>www.petloss.com</a> has some good articles. It’s also a 3-tissue website which can be hard but also cathartic.</p>
<p>Trixie was so glad she was your dog. {{{Hugs}}}</p>
<p>cgm~</p>
<p>Just wanted to see how you and your family are doing. Grieving the loss of such a beloved pet as Trixie can be a long and difficult process. Hope y’all are hangin’ in…</p>
<p>~berurah</p>
<p>wish us luck!!! went online today and found a new dog, a rescue border collie that is just what I was hoping to find- female adult who needs a home because her old family couldn’t take care of her, didn’t care if she had issues or stuff we needed to help her with, just wanted one not too big who needed lots of exercise…and we found her!!!</p>
<p>so, did the application and should meet her and have our house checked out soon…hope she likes the other dogs!!!</p>
<p>so, maybe in a week or two, the vacuum will be filled…we are ready…and my H is really happy, saw the picture and that was that, close to our beloved Trixie, but different enough to be her own dog, we even have a name picked out…I know how to teach a dog their new name, one that if we slip and say the old dogs name, its close enough she will still come…Roxie</p>
<p>Hooray for a new dog! I hope everything goes well during the meeting. When you give a rescue dog consistent love, consistent expectations, and good food – they blossom. :)</p>