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| Taz |
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| Trista |
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In 2018, two dogs I was fond of passed away. They were both old and had suffered from ailments related to old age prior to their deaths.
Trista died in Summer of 2018. She was the seeing eye dog of a legally blind occupational therapist I worked with while I worked at Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Day Treatment program for over 20 years. However, Trista was much more than a seeing eye dog who took Kari everywhere she went. She was like a therapy dog to patients and employees; one employee used to take Trista on walks to her great delight. I personally liked to pet her and got her water every morning for nearly 3 years. She loved to watch us eat our lunch; I would even give her snacks, providing it was OK with Kari.
Taz was my sister Kris’ family’s dog for over 12 years; he initially started as my nephew Shane’s dog, but the whole extended family grew to love him as well. One of my favorite things about Taz was that he would bark whenever the family sang “Happy Birthday”, cheered for the Green Bay Packers, or whenever things got loud at a family gathering. He also loved to play catch and loved to go into the family’s boat for a ride.
Pets are considered as much part of the family as the human members are. I have seen many a Christmas picture among relatives and friends with the family pet included. When I was growing up that we had pets as long as I can remember. When they were put to sleep, it was as much a difficult time as when relatives and friends would pass away, including my father, aunts and uncles, and my grandparents and great-grandparents.
Pets are loved members of the family who are missed when they pass away as much as human members. When they become sick, family members begin to make arrangements for their imminent deaths as they would for their own. Taz and Trista were both cremated following their deaths. Barky, one of the family dogs I grew up with, was buried in our family’s backyard next to the rhubarb patch.
It saddens me whenever I hear of unwanted pets being neglected or disposed of as if they are garbage and left to die. If they don’t want their pets, they can always take them to the Humane Society where a loving person will rescue them and care of them and make them part of the family. Pets are capable of so much love for their humans and when they die, they are missed as much as a human member is.
While pets are a comfort to humans of all ages, whether they are part of a family or single, they can particularly be a source of love and support for seniors. Pets keep a person from feeling lonely, and they provide companionship for seniors, particularly after the death of a spouse. I have heard people say that after the death of a spouse, it is difficult to go into the home they shared with their spouse. When a loving pet is there waiting for their human to get home, it makes the pain of their human’s loss lessen considerably; the loss of a beloved, loyal pet makes their human’s loss even more difficult. I remember several times when Taz would wait patiently for all of his human family to come home before he would begin to sense that all is well. Pets do seem to have that innate sense that something is not right if all of the family is not present and can appear anxious if a family member is no longer present due to a death or moving away from home.
Eventually, a family may get another pet to replace the one they lost. However, like human family members, pets are never forgotten, and are always in a family’s heart no matter how much time passes. We Will Miss You: Support for Grieving the Death of a Pet
