Every dog owner has to face the inevitable fact that he may lose his best friend at one time or the other. Since a dogâs life span is around 12 to 14 years, you should be prepared to cope up with the loss of your faithful four-legged pal. Here are some helpful suggestions on how to deal with the death of a dog:
Talk it out
It always helps to share your grief with your close friends and family, especially those who are animal lovers. When you share some of your great experiences that you had with your pet, happy memories surface and make you feel slightly better during your grief stricken times. Brooding alone may result in negativity and it will become more difficult to come out of it. You can even show its pictures and videos to get the feeling that your pet is still around you. If you have kids, who were emotionally attached to the dog, then it becomes doubly imperative to talk it out gently with them. Explain to them that while it lived, you gave it the best possible care.
Prepare for a burial
Your dog needs to be disposed off in a respectable manner. When you have realized that your dog has died, you need to get busy in arranging for a proper burial. You can bury it under your favorite fruit tree. When the tree bears fruits, you can watch contentedly that your favorite pet has contributed for this. If you do not have place in front of your house, then you can make avail of dog burial services in your city. These are expensive but give you a place to visit the burial stone every year. Involve the whole family in the burial activity, so that you can draw solace from each other in coping with your dogâs death. Holding a memorial service for your dog makes you feel that you at least gave your pet a decent farewell.
Take a day off to mourn
Dealing with the aftermath is difficult as it would have created a void in your life. You can take a day off from your normal activities and sit at home and mourn its death. You can reminisce the good times you had with your best pal and even cry it out. Pouring out your grief helps in better coping with your dogâs death. You can call some of your friends over and talk about your loss. You can also pay a visit to a nearby nature park or an animal farm to cope up with the loss of your dog. The kids in the family will benefit if you take them to a park where other dogs come for a stroll. Seeing other dogs playing and jumping around will bring back fond memories and remember all the good times you shared with your favorite pet. You can also take part in some charitable activities for animals in the name of your dog to keep its memories alive.
Bring a new puppy home
It has been seen that bringing another dog in the house is the best way to cope with a dogâs death. When you see the new puppy behaving in almost a similar fashion as your dog, it gives you a sense of comfort that your dog has returned. It becomes easier to cope with your dogâs death when you have another pet in the house. The new pet also succeeds in keeping you busy with all its bubbly activities and you return to normal much faster. You can keep your earlier dogâs videos and play them to compare the behavior of the new dog with your lost one. This keeps memories alive as well as help you cope with your dogâs death in a better way.
Write a dog blog
Penning down your thoughts makes you feel much better at times of grief. You can write a blog about the unforgettable memories you had with your dog. You can also share images of great moments with your dog. With many of your friends offering condolences and appreciating your dog on the net, you start feeling that your best friend did not go unnoticed. This is a great way to combat with the death of your favorite buddy who had been your unconditional support for so many years. You can visit other dog sites where you will find many such experiences which others would have shared.
