She died suddenly in a horrible accident.
Answers:
It;s quite normal..I lost my dog to heart failure 4monthes ago and i think of my peanut everyday and miss him dearly...they are like family members matter of fact ;i cried more for peanut dieing than i did for a cousin...they love us unconditionally as we do them,,,I;m sorry you had to lose such a great friend but think of all the good times you 2 shared together and how your sweetie is now in heaven in no pain and just relaxing and running with other dogs up there,,,It;s ok to be sad about losing your dear friend ; but Sabrina wouldn;t want you to be so sad all the time,,Sabrina was very lucky to have a sweet and caring owner as yourself ;and her spirit comes to check you out sometimes at night and then goes back home to heaven...good luck always,,,,
I'm so sorry. I know what it's like to lose a best friend.
When a person you love dies, it's natural to feel sorrow, express grief, and expect friends and family to provide understanding and comfort. Unfortunately, the same doesn't always hold true if the one who died was your companion animal. Many consider grieving inappropriate for someone who has lost "just a pet."
Nothing could be further from the truth. People love their pets and consider them members of their family. Caregivers celebrate their pets' birthdays, confide in their animals, and carry pictures of them in their wallets. So when your beloved pet dies, it's not unusual to feel overwhelmed by the intensity of your sorrow. Animals provide companionship, acceptance, emotional support, and unconditional love during the time they share with you. If you understand and accept this bond between humans and animals, you've already taken the first step toward coping with pet loss: knowing that it is okay to grieve when your pet dies.
Understanding how you grieve and finding ways to cope with your loss can bring you closer to the day when memories bring smiles instead of tears.
What Is the Grief Process?
The grief process is as individual as the person, lasting days for one person or years for another. The process typically begins with denial, which offers protection until individuals can realize their loss. Some caregivers may try bargaining with a higher power, themselves, or even their pet to restore life. Some feel anger, which may be directed at anyone involved with the pet, including family, friends, and veterinarians. Caregivers may also feel guilt about what they did or did not do, and may feel that it is inappropriate to be so upset. After these feelings subside, caregivers may experience true sadness or grief. They may become withdrawn or depressed. Acceptance occurs when they accept the reality of their loss and remember their animal companion with decreasing sadness. Remember, not everyone follows these classic stages of grief鈥攕ome may skip or repeat a stage, or experience the stages in a different order.
How Can I Cope with My Grief?
While grief is a personal experience, you need not face loss alone. Many forms of support are available, including pet bereavement counseling services, pet-loss support hotlines, local or online Internet bereavement groups, books, videos, and magazine articles. Here are a few suggestions to help you cope:
Acknowledge your grief and give yourself permission to express it.
Don't hesitate to reach out to others who can lend a sympathetic ear.
Write about your feelings, either in a journal or a poem.
Call your local humane society to see whether it offers a pet loss support group or can refer you to one. You may also want to ask your veterinarian or local animal shelter about available pet loss hotlines.
Explore the Internet for pet loss support groups and coping information.
Prepare a memorial for your pet.
ps- this video also helped alot with the grieving process.
http://www.indigo.org/rainbow/rainbow.sw...
It takes time. Our dogs are part of our families. Eventually you will remember more of the good things and less of the bad. It is sometimes especially difficult when it is by an accident. Sorry!
Everybody has a different time to greave I still feel horrible after nine years after I had to put my boy to sleep with heart disease he was only 8 years old. He still holds a piece of my heart and will always do so.
So take your time and when you are ready you will know.
I think you're holding on. Maybe try getting a new dog. Of course you'll still have fond memories but life goes on. Dogs have short life expectancies anyway, if it weren't for that accident it still would die someday. At least you know it wasn't your fault and there was nothing you could do to help her stay alive.
just get a new dog just like her
Give me some love bro or sis I know how u feel I had 3 bury my own dog Sunshine.. I miss her 2 ...
I think it may be a combination of both. I lost my collie 4 years ago from old age and today I was mowing the lawn and saw that some purple flowers were growing in the woods that were there at about this time a few months before she died and it caused me to cry. I had taken her out there to take some pictures and one of them of her in those flowers hangs on my wall in the living room. Our pets are like family so it's traumatic for us when we lose them, especially since yours died so unexpectedly, at least I had time to prepare because of my dogs age. My dog's picture is still my background on my computer and when I see or hear certain things I still think about her and miss her. There is nothing wrong with you missing your dog, but you still need to remember the good times you had with her so that you can move on a little.
It's only abnormal if you hold on to it to a point you cease functioning as a normal human being. You might want to seek professional help if you hare having trouble sleeping, keeping a job, or doing normal everyday chore.
If you count the dog part of your family, you will mourn his/her loss, just as if a loved one. The method and duration of mourning is a personal one, and I think the circumstances surrounding the death plays a major role in how long you grieve. For instance, if your dog died of old age, in peace..., you will mourn her loss, no doubt, but with less negative mixed emotions as if in an sudden premature death. If your dog died after a prolonged illness, you had time to prepare for the inevitable.
It took two months for me to get over extreme guilt and sorrow when I took my ailing 18 year old dog to be put down by the vet. It took about a month before I could get my emotions together, and about a year before I felt at peace. Lucky for me, I had another dog in the house to comfort me. Also, I was able to release a lot of grief through the means of writing a memorial for my dog, making a souvenir bookmark to hand to friends, designed a dogster web site, and the likes. You might want to invest some time into memorial things like that.
When I lost a 4 month old dog to distemper, the grief was so intense because I spent 24 hours for 1.5 weeks caring for her before she left. There was much anger towards the vet for the delayed diagnosis, the poor vet system in this country (I'm not in the US), and a general sense of helplessness since I didn't have the knowledge to help her. For her, I lit candles every night for almost 2 weeks before feeling at peace. I also wrote a memorandum, made a bookmark, and gave her a dogster web site.
It's been over 2 years now, and I've moved on. There are no more doggie items that belong to either of them in my house. They are forever in my heart, and I love looking at their little pictures. I don't get emotional anymore, but I do miss them everyday. I still have one other dog in the house, and she misses her two playmates too.
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the same thing happened to me today (5th June 2011) My loving dog Lightning died today. He was just 4 months old..
ReplyDeleteI'm soo sad bout that... I still can't stop crying ...... But I have a big hope that Lightning will come to me someday again as my pet dog.....