We have many dogs, ranging from five years old, all the way up to 13+ years old. Differing breeds, etc.
Up to this point in (my) life – I have not had to deal with the loss of an animal.
How do most people approach this sensitive subject?
Your first dog loss (dog death)
The loss of life – no matter what (be it fish, hamster, cat, dog, human) is troubling for most people. Sure, fish are not “personalities” per se, compared to a companion such as a pet (cat, dog) or even worse – another human (mom, dad, brother, sister, wife – girlfriend, or husband – boyfriend).
A pragmatic person would be sensible to understand from the get-go, that acquiring a pet (or any living being) comes with likely sad times.
You will statistically out-live one or more of your pets.
And especially depending on the “breed” that you choose for your pet – may possibly even bring that “end of life” sooner than others.
Some dogs, in particular, have shorter life-spans than others. Bernaise Mountain Dogs and Austrailian Shepherds, in particular, have shorter life-spans in general. Those are just two breeds we mentioned off the top of our head.
How do households (regardless of configuration – kids, no kids) handle their “first” loss?
Understanding the cycle of life
One fascinating aspect of “life” as we know it – for us humans at least – is the fact that we are mortal.
Yes – we all die.
What amazes me is that the vast majority (99%+) of the HUMAN population does not DWELL on the fact that we will be gone one day in the future.
It’s a miraculous mechanism of the human being to somehow disregard that plainly truthful FACT that our life will END guaranteed.
Sorry to be all morbid with this topic, but it is an interesting one nonetheless.
How we handle loss
I’ve known countless people who have “lost” something or someone in their lives. I lost my Mom when I was just 17 years old. I can hardly remember the “feelings” I had back then. Maybe I wasn’t mature enough to comprehend. Who knows.
I guess there is some truth to the stages of grief that the mainstream medical industry mentions.
Time heals all wounds as they say in summary.
I think for the most part since hardly anyone focuses on the potential loss of anything – that they just deal with today until tomorrow comes.
Loss is (almost) always temporary
As we mentioned above – the stages of grief are usually limited, barring any extreme situations where some folks just “can’t get over” the loss. That happens, and it is real (however, it should be looked into more deeply why some folks cannot move on).
Loss is just one of the shoddy aspects of human life, attraction, and connection to other living beings.
You cannot really have the “best” parts of humanity (i.e., relationships, families, etc.) without that “risk” you take with the aspect of eventual loss.
While that may seem morbid – it is the way of the world. And we all grow and evolve as a result.
