Goodbye, Friend: Healing Wisdom for Anyone Who Has Ever Lost a Pet

She had trusted me and thereby had made me trustworthy.

Routines are important to people, too. For this reason, it is not usually a good idea to make any major decisions in the period immediately after a loss. Our judgment frequently suffers when we are under stress. If possible, postpone making any big changes in your life. Stick to the familiar. This is probably not the moment to replace your pet, for

Unfortunately, thousands of animals are killed every year in accidents, usually involving an automobile. When a pet dies needlessly and painfully or simply disappears without returning, it is especially hard to accept the loss. Premature death — whether from trauma, disease, or undetermined causes — upends the comforting advice of Ecclesiastes, for

Among women, he found, the saddest events usually concerned the death of a grandparent or another close relative. For young men, rather curiously, the saddest memories typically involved the death of a dog. He says he was never able to fully probe that response to account for the gender difference. What was striking was that when asked to recall th

When I begin to worry excessively, my dog, Chinook, can pull me out of my brooding and help put my problems in proper perspective. If I become too serious, he invites me to join in frolicking and play. Because animals have wants that are few and basic, they can teach us to slow down, simplify, and concentrate on the essentials.

The Jataka tales, for instance, tell of the Buddha’s previous incarnations in animal form, as antelope, monkey, elephant, dog, peacock, and many other creatures. Throughout these stories, the animals act as teachers and exemplars to the human characters, as in the fable of the unselfish stag that saves the life of a king who once hunted him. “I mys

For some people, the death of a pet may represent the greatest loss they have ever encountered.

There is not a beast on earth, nor fowl that flieth on two wings, but they are a people like unto you, and to God they shall return. — The Qur’an (Surah 6, Al. An’am, or The Cattle)

“Until one has loved an animal,” wrote Anatole France, “a part of one’s soul remains unawakened.”