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

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

tried to console her as best I could, but sometimes words are not enough. She asked to stay over that night so she wouldn’t be alone at her apartment. She lay down, ready to go to sleep, and what happened next amazed me. My dog, Grish, jumped in bed, laid his massive black Lab head down on her stomach, and stayed there all night. He has never done

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

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.

She had trusted me and thereby had made me trustworthy.

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

Like anyone else who has suffered a blow, people whose animals have died are vulnerable. One follow-up study of individuals who were mourning the loss of a companion animal found that in the weeks immediately after the death, more than 90 percent of the owners experienced some disruption of their sleep habits or had difficulty eating — both symptom