Memorial Tributes – Temon’s Story

Our Pet Memorial Tribute album is now up on our FaceBook page, they may be gone, but will never be forgotten.  They will always hold special places in our hearts.  If you have a picture to share, please do and we will place it in our album.

Below is a picture of T-Bone (AKA – Temon), he is also in our tribute album - T-Bone had been hit by a car and left for dead in a ditch. He was brought to the Baja Dogs La Paz Refuge and had to have an emergency amputation on his front right paw.

T-Bone had spent two or three years there, until he was adopted in October 2009 from Pawsitive Match in Calgary by Robion Simcoe. Since then T-Bone would play in the snow and go fishing in the local park and you would never know that he only had 3 legs!

Sadly, T-Bone passed away recently, but he lives on in the hearts and the many lives he impacted with his courage and strength.

May you go play with the Angels…

Eternal Paw Prints Newsletter!!!

Starting June 2012, Eternal Paw Prints will have a monthly newsletter!  It will be filled with tips on how to cope with pet loss, new and/or featured products, monthly happenings and a featured story of our “Baja Dog of the Month”.  

You can find us on the web at www.eternalpawprints.net or on Face Book

Stay tuned for more to come!!

 Your Eternal Paw Prints Team

A Healing Stage

“Mourners need communication with others, validation of their feelings, loving consideration, and time to be alone. Only in cases of abnormal depression will those in bereavement be unable to take even some small action to help themselves. Most of us will pass quickly enough through this seemingly unending period. It helps greatly to be able to talk out our story with some sympathetic person or persons. Close friends and support groups are probably the best help during this, the saddest part of the mourning process.

Surprisingly, depression as a major part of bereavement does serve a good purpose. It diminishes the intensity of emotions and gives us time to live with and assimilate the grim, new reality. We meditate and ponder on the pet’s death and begin to lay the foundation for a new spiritual strength and perspective that we could not have had before. It is all part of the amazing healing process that nature has provided for us. We have to go through the worst of the pain in order to put most of it behind us.

When the depression passes, we are much closer than before to the resolution stage of the mourning. things are beginning to look upward now. The worst part is over. For the first time since the death, it is possible to sense the easing of pain and to see some light at the end of the tunnel.

Ultimately, all life is change and growth. otherwise, it wouldn’t be worth living. This is a very hard lesson to learn, but a necessary one that our beloved pets can teach us. Yet it is nearly impossible to be philosophical when still in deep grief and depression. “

by Moira Anderson Allen, M.Ed.

What Can I Expect to Feel?

Different people experience grief in different ways. Besides your sorrow and loss, you may also experience the following emotions:

• Guilt may occur if you feel responsible for your pet’s death-the “if only I had been more careful” syndrome. It is pointless and often erroneous to burden yourself with guilt for the accident or illness that claimed your pet’s life, and only makes it more difficult to resolve your grief.
• Denial makes it difficult to accept that your pet is really gone. It’s hard to imagine that your pet won’t greet you when you come home, or that it doesn’t need its evening meal. Some pet owners carry this to extremes, and fear their pet is still alive and suffering somewhere. Others find it hard to get a new pet for fear of being “disloyal” to the old.
• Anger may be directed at the illness that killed your pet, the driver of the speeding car, the veterinarian who “failed” to save its life. Sometimes it is justified, but when carried to extremes, it distracts you from the important task of resolving your grief.
• Depression is a natural consequence of grief, but can leave you powerless to cope with your feelings. Extreme depression robs you of motivation and energy, causing you to dwell upon your sorrow.

by Moira Anderson Allen, M.Ed.

Honoring the Animals Candlelight Vigil and Animal Blessing

Remembering our animal friends on National Pet Day!

This is an annual event, held on National Pet Memorial Day; the second Sunday in September in Louisville, Kentucky. This year it will be on September 11th and the guest will be a member of the FEMA K9 Task Force who served at Ground Zero.

Add Your Pet’s Name to This Year’s Program

If you would like to add you pet’s name to this year’s official program book -no matter where you live - you can! In return for your gift of $10 per name, we’ll list your pet’s name, your name, and your city and state in our beautiful, full-color program book..

If you are able to attend this year’s vigil, they will reserve a program for you to be picked up at the event. IF YOU CANNOT ATTEND you may still add your pet’s name and a program will be sent to you via US Postal Mail.

Am I crazy to hurt so much?

Intense grief over the loss of a pet is normal and natural. Don’t let anyone tell you that it’s silly, crazy, or overly sentimental to grieve!

During the years you spent with your pet (even if they were few), it became a significant and constant part of your life. It was a source of comfort and companionship, of unconditional love and acceptance, of fun and joy. So don’t be surprised if you feel devastated by the loss of such a relationship.

People who don’t understand the pet/owner bond may not understand your pain. All that matters, however, is how you feel. Don’t let others dictate your feelings: They are valid, and may be extremely painful. But remember, you are not alone: Thousands of pet owners have gone through the same feelings.

by Moira Anderson Allen, M.Ed.

Photos of Interesting Dog Memorials

Used with Creative Commons. Photo by: Gak

Used with Creative Commons. Photo by: jeaneeem

Used with Creative Commons. Photo by: janet_calcaterra

Making Hard Decisions

If you’re having a hard time deciding whether or not to bury or cremate your pet, then read this and let it sink in. Remember, this is a painful time for you. Take time to breathe and comfort yourself with some words from someone who understands:

“…For if the dog be well remembered, if sometimes she leaps through your dreams actual as in life, eyes kindling, laughing, begging, it matters not where that dog sleeps. On a hill where the wind is unrebuked and the trees are roaring, or beside a stream she knew in puppyhood, or somehwhere in the flatness of a pastureland where most exhilarating cattle graze. It is one to a dog, and all one to you, and nothing is gained and nothing lost–if memory lives. But there is one best place to bury a dog.

“If you bury her in this spot, she will come to you when you call–come to you over the grim, dim frontiers of death, and down the well-remembered path and to your side again. And though you may call a dozen living dogs to heel, they shall not growl at her nor resent her coming, for she belongs there.

“People may scoff at you, who see no lightest blade of grass bent by her footfall, who hear no whimper, people who have never really had a dog. Smile at them, for you shall know something that is hidden from them.

“The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of her master.”

-Anonymous

HEAVEN’S DOGGY-DOOR

My best friend closed his eyes last
night, As his head was in my hand.
The Doctors said he was in pain,
And it was hard for him to stand.

The thoughts that scurried through
my head, As I cradled him in my arms.
Were of his younger, puppy years,
And OH…his many charms.

Today, there was no gentle nudge
With an intense “I love you gaze”,
Only a heart thats filled with tears
Remembering our joy filled days.

But an Angel just appeared to me,
And he said, “You should cry no more,
GOD also loves our canine friends,
HE’s installed a ‘doggy-door”!

— Jan Cooper — 1995

Thinking of Jennifer Aniston & Her Dog Dolly

We all know losing a pet is tough & so this week we have been sending comforting thoughts to Jennifer Aniston & her dog, Dolly, since they have both lost an amazing friend.

(Click here to read more about the loss of Norman.)