My 6 year old Godaughters pet dog has passed away,can we do anything for her please?

meritaten

my-user-name - then you know how this ceremony can help.
blessings
merit

Racheldevon

OP i've sent you a PM

WolfSong2000

I was looking for a specific quote, and found it couched in a short story here:

http://www.upgradereality.com/a-dogs-purpose-from-a-6-year-old/

Pretty much sums it up for me...losing a dog, to me, is losing a member of the family. Growing up, my dogs were there to share in my happy moments (yes, dogs do laugh!) and to comfort me when I was sad or ill and to teach me many lessons - not least how to love unconditionally. I lost one dog I grew up with a few years ago, and will lose his son (who's now 15) this year, and probably very soon - that fact absolutely breaks my heart, but at the end of the day I know my life has been better because I have been able to share it with my dogs.

Anyhow, I'm now crying writing this and can barely see the screen for tears, so I'll end here.

Lotus-eater

my-user-name wrote: »

Its so understandable for her to be very upset but the poor wee mite is breaking down at school and even when she goes shopping with her mum,at night her mum can hear her crying in bed which is heartbreaking.

She drew some pictures of her dog when she was in school the other day and brought them home,she then put them under her pillow so she could "dream about her Harvey".It breaks my heart seeing her so upset but were at a loss on how best to deal with this.

We keep thinking she will stop being upset but so far she hasnt,is there anything we could say or do to help her come to terms with losing her little mate please.


Are we asking too much for expecting her to come to terms so soon??thanks for taking the time to read this.

She will come to terms with it when she does. Little girls at this age can place an amazingly huge weight on something around them.

Yes of course she misses him, but it is part of growing up, we went through the same when my DD cousins moved away to another country, they were her life, then they suddenly weren't there.

We had sleepness nights, nights upon nights of crying, but in the end, reality is reality, it has to be faced.

Yes, it can help to draw pictures and whatever helps her to feel better is good, but you said it breaks your heart to see her this way. She will pick up on that.
She needs to understand that this sort of thing will happen, pets do die. The sooner you all settle down and allow her to grieve normally, the better off she will be in the future.

my-user-name

WolfSong2000 wrote: »

I was looking for a specific quote, and found it couched in a short story here:

http://www.upgradereality.com/a-dogs-purpose-from-a-6-year-old/

Pretty much sums it up for me...losing a dog, to me, is losing a member of the family. Growing up, my dogs were there to share in my happy moments (yes, dogs do laugh!) and to comfort me when I was sad or ill and to teach me many lessons - not least how to love unconditionally. I lost one dog I grew up with a few years ago, and will lose his son (who's now 15) this year, and probably very soon - that fact absolutely breaks my heart, but at the end of the day I know my life has been better because I have been able to share it with my dogs.

Anyhow, I'm now crying writing this and can barely see the screen for tears, so I'll end here.

Yep,Im crying too.

I remember the day my own little dog had to be put to sleep and although you know you are freeing them of their pain its still heartbreaking saying your final goodbye to them.


And your so right WolfSong,they really do laugh:)

my-user-name

Lotus-eater wrote: »

She will come to terms with it when she does. Little girls at this age can place an amazingly huge weight on something around them.

Yes of course she misses him, but it is part of growing up, we went through the same when my DD cousins moved away to another country, they were her life, then they suddenly weren't there.

We had sleepness nights, nights upon nights of crying, but in the end, reality is reality, it has to be faced.

Yes, it can help to draw pictures and whatever helps her to feel better is good, but you said it breaks your heart to see her this way. She will pick up on that.
She needs to understand that this sort of thing will happen, pets do die. The sooner you all settle down and allow her to grieve normally, the better off she will be in the future.

Ive been good so far by not crying in front of her Lotus but its been hard and maybe your right when you say she will pick up things.Reality really sucks for such a young child but as you say....its part of growing up.:(

loulou123

I was 6 when my 1st dog died, I actually found him, as he had passed away in his sleep and 1st thing I did every morning was go to his 'bed' to give him a cuddle.

I was devastated and as a young child, couldn't understand why he wouldn't wake up and that this would be 'forever.' The dog was my best friend and as an only child I used to tell people he was my brother!

It's still my clearest memory from an early age, and I'm 32 now, now I can look back and see that passing in his sleep was a 'lovely' way to go, as he was very old, but as a child I was just confused and scared.

We did get another dog fairly soon afterwards and this helped as it gave whole family something else to focus on.

Maybe the 2 of you could make a scrapbook with pictures and photos etc, of the dog, although this might be upsetting, it could also provide some closure too, and could be looked at when feeling sad?

Hugs to you all xx

zcrat41

There is a wonderful book about a dog called Alfie who dies. I think it's called I will always love you. My Mum read it to me when our first dog died and it made me feel so much better.

In fact, I'm in tears remembering what a nice book it is.

Well worth getting.

snowleopard61

Some years ago I came across 'Goodbye Mog' by Judith Kerr (in the series 'Mog the Forgetful Cat'). Obviously it's not about a dog but it's really beautiful and also makes a very uplifting link between Mog and the kitten who follows her into the life of the family.

I do think having another dog, when everyone feels ready, is a good thing. We were all heartbroken when one of our cats had to be put down at quite an early age because of a chronic illness which was deteriorating, especially my (then) 10-year-old daughter whose 'own' cat he was, and without doubt the most healing thing for all of us was the little rescue kitten who came to live with us a few months later as her very own too.

big5

When I was 6, my grandmother died and a short time later one of our cats had to be put down. To be honest, I think the cat's death was more upsetting for me (my parents had taken me to the vets with them not realising how bad the situation was, so that was a bit traumatic!).

When my grandmother died, several people in the family made comments about how she was back together with my grandfather in heaven (he'd died before I was born), so when the cat died, it made sense to me that they would look after her for us in their heaven house. They must have quite a menagerie now with 3 more cats, a rabbit, a dog and my cousin's 6 guinea pigs! :rotfl:

Drawing pictures, looking at photographs and laughing about the funny things her pet did are all good ways to remember and celebrate the pet's life, as well as show your god-daughter that the grown-ups are sad and miss the dog too.