I have had four dogs whom I have loved and cuddled and who let me sob or laugh into their soft, sweet necks. But it was my dad who was inconsolable when his dog passed away. So much so that he buried her in a pet cemetery (with me and my cousin in attendance and flowers on her coffin). But as he aged, he realized that he didn't want to be separated from her at all and had a mausoleum built in a cemetery that would allow both him and his dog to lie together through eternity. Every day, he walked 3 miles through that cemetery, stopping to say hi to his girl. When he passed away, she was there waiting for him. Together forever.
This article is of the many messages that go unsaid! And if no one's ever told you, with your experiences, you have a great way of relating to a good sum of people who share the same realities and feelings as you.
Dogs definitely teach lessons, my deseced dog Schatzi passed away unexpectedly 2 years ago and with his passing I felt gave me the super power to detect who shared the same love as he did.
This way I wouldn't get myself hurt by anyone I'd blindly want to be friends with. To this day I stay a bit reserved but share the light through my own methods of happiness and ultimate freedom that a dog shares with the world.
Dogs are indefinitely the best motivator for living a happy and free life ✨️🥥🌲
Thank you so much, Andrew. I am battling an episode of depression and anxiety. I have recurrent bouts of depression and anxiety. I have a wonderful Corgi named Marley who I’ve had for six years. He is so full of energy. He’s not a cuddle pup. And now he has to undergo surgery because he’s lame in his left leg. Which contributes to my anxiety and depression. But we will get through it. He’ll have to stay overnight at the animal hospital and then be contained for 4 to 6 weeks. I’ll do it one day at a time. I live alone. And it’s very challenging. I live in Plymouth Massachusetts. So it really helps me to read your challenges. It helps to read other people have challenges. And they get through them. One day at a time. Thanks so much.
Hi Laurie, you're doing great. Thank you for sharing. I hope you can find ways within your grasp to take action and keep moving through the darkness while Marley is away. And please send me a message if you need to chat :)
Thanks so much, Andrew! I’m proud of myself for finding a game for Marley to play which is hiding food under these little shuttle things and then he moves them with his nose to find the food so that is something that can keep his brain going while he can’t really run around at all. How do i send a message to you? Is there anyway to send a picture?
Thank you, Andrew for all of your writings. I have a binder that has everything you wrote when Mono died. Those were the most heartfelt things anyone has ever written. My husband died when we were both fifty. Three days after my son graduated from high school and my daughter was 15. We got a second dog soon after and having both dogs to occupy us was great. All those dogs are cremated and will join us. That prospect makes me feel good. Again,thank you for being you and for writing the lovely thoughts that I think we all have.
Thank you, from an unmarried, child free dog lover who is also trying to champion her mental health and appreciate the beauty around me. I, too, lost my heart dog a few years ago, but somehow he sent me another (just different) and she helped me understand even more the significance of dogs in our lives. So much of what you write and say and do resonates with so many of us that just don’t have that voice representing us. We really appreciate you ❤️
Thank you for this text! <3 I've been having frequent arguments (just had one this last weekend!) with people who say that relationships with pets do not replace those with people. No, they don't. Because they're not supposed to, they're something else, completely. And relationships with people CAN'T replace those with pets. NOTHING AND NO ONE WILL REPLACE MY PETS AND OUR RELATIONSHIPS. When you write "Some would consider losing a dog a practice for real life. I’d place it in a category entirely of its own", it comforts me that some might unsderstand a little how I feel, how I live, the life, the infinite and beyound love I share with my dog today, and with all the pets I had the privilege to meet and live with. I am so happy for this life lived with these more than special creatures! By the way, you inspire me to write more about it! Lots of love, Ana and Rúbi - all the way from Brazil. :-)
Thank you, Andrew, for being so transparent about your own battles with helplessness and the events that led to those feelings. Most of all, I want to thank you for championing the wonderful place that dogs occupy in our lives - by grounding us with their need for us to care for them (even when we don’t feel like it) and for the humor with which their antics bless us!
Andrew I followed you and Momo for so long but when my version of Momo passed away I had to step away a bit as she was Momo’s doppelgänger. A sweet high energy border collie named Isabel that was everything you said Momo was. I was blessed she found me and got me through my tough times. It was always go-go-go with her even if all I wanted to do was curl up on the sofa with the curtains drawn. She lived to be 16 and like Momo she had terrible arthritis and had cognitive decline. It was painful to witness but towards the end the best I could do for her was give her whatever she wanted. I now am facing that again with my special dog Ike, truly my best friend who is approaching 15 and the same story as Isabel, terrible arthritis, losing one eye, having ccl surgery and Cushing disease. He has been with me through my divorce, job losses, losing Isabel, the pandemic. He’s been my rock! I dread the day when I have to say goodbye to him too.
Sorry, what I came here to really say is that I think you are amazing and from where I sit, a very strong person who loves his dogs. I appreciate your art and your writing. You are appreciated!
Thank you for sharing Andrew. Are you open to share how you navigated life after Momo’s passing? I ask because I said goodbye to my beloved dog on Monday and the 💔 feels crushing. I appreciate any thoughts.
Thank you Andrew. Each of my dogs always walked with me when no one else would. There is something to that. That all lives matter. I’ve loved each of them as you have yours… They just know so much about living. Thank you for your courageous writing.
So sorry that what’s being done here now scares Canadians, it is pretty frightening here. There are plenty of folks here who are on Your side, even so much that we may leave our homes to escape what it’s becoming . Winters there rain daily - that’s one place we thought of moving 🥴well ….
Just wanted to say I’m sorry that the issue with two siblings fell on your head after the other earlier losses. I can’t fathom the loss Of your heart dog, Momo. You know … it starts to seem as if you need a helmet to keep the crap from falling directly onto your head .
I remember your writing about friends that you chose become family, your time living in the barn. I imagine many times being back at the barn with Momo at your side seems sooo life saving - if we only had a Time Machine. Damn
You are going to accomplish everything you want- you have such a sincere way. May blessings fall upon you, Boo, and Yaya soon- so you take off the helmet. (My helmet days were when my brother got cancer, then my Dad died in my arms from it , not a year later Jerrys cancer was back. I had had cancer myself and was def afraid I’d get it again . Wow
Losing my only sibling decimated me . )
Life can really suck : thank you for wanting and showing the way to lemonade
I have had four dogs whom I have loved and cuddled and who let me sob or laugh into their soft, sweet necks. But it was my dad who was inconsolable when his dog passed away. So much so that he buried her in a pet cemetery (with me and my cousin in attendance and flowers on her coffin). But as he aged, he realized that he didn't want to be separated from her at all and had a mausoleum built in a cemetery that would allow both him and his dog to lie together through eternity. Every day, he walked 3 miles through that cemetery, stopping to say hi to his girl. When he passed away, she was there waiting for him. Together forever.
This is so special. Thanks for sharing, Kathy ❤️
This article is of the many messages that go unsaid! And if no one's ever told you, with your experiences, you have a great way of relating to a good sum of people who share the same realities and feelings as you.
Dogs definitely teach lessons, my deseced dog Schatzi passed away unexpectedly 2 years ago and with his passing I felt gave me the super power to detect who shared the same love as he did.
This way I wouldn't get myself hurt by anyone I'd blindly want to be friends with. To this day I stay a bit reserved but share the light through my own methods of happiness and ultimate freedom that a dog shares with the world.
Dogs are indefinitely the best motivator for living a happy and free life ✨️🥥🌲
Thank you so much, Andrew. I am battling an episode of depression and anxiety. I have recurrent bouts of depression and anxiety. I have a wonderful Corgi named Marley who I’ve had for six years. He is so full of energy. He’s not a cuddle pup. And now he has to undergo surgery because he’s lame in his left leg. Which contributes to my anxiety and depression. But we will get through it. He’ll have to stay overnight at the animal hospital and then be contained for 4 to 6 weeks. I’ll do it one day at a time. I live alone. And it’s very challenging. I live in Plymouth Massachusetts. So it really helps me to read your challenges. It helps to read other people have challenges. And they get through them. One day at a time. Thanks so much.
Hi Laurie, you're doing great. Thank you for sharing. I hope you can find ways within your grasp to take action and keep moving through the darkness while Marley is away. And please send me a message if you need to chat :)
Thanks so much, Andrew! I’m proud of myself for finding a game for Marley to play which is hiding food under these little shuttle things and then he moves them with his nose to find the food so that is something that can keep his brain going while he can’t really run around at all. How do i send a message to you? Is there anyway to send a picture?
You are loved and appreciated Andrew!!
A lovely ode to the human animal bond! Thank you.
Feeling all that. You’re, as you know, not alone. 💜
Thank you so much for writing. It really helps in so many ways.
Thank you, Andrew for all of your writings. I have a binder that has everything you wrote when Mono died. Those were the most heartfelt things anyone has ever written. My husband died when we were both fifty. Three days after my son graduated from high school and my daughter was 15. We got a second dog soon after and having both dogs to occupy us was great. All those dogs are cremated and will join us. That prospect makes me feel good. Again,thank you for being you and for writing the lovely thoughts that I think we all have.
Marlene
❤️
Thank you, from an unmarried, child free dog lover who is also trying to champion her mental health and appreciate the beauty around me. I, too, lost my heart dog a few years ago, but somehow he sent me another (just different) and she helped me understand even more the significance of dogs in our lives. So much of what you write and say and do resonates with so many of us that just don’t have that voice representing us. We really appreciate you ❤️
Thank you for this text! <3 I've been having frequent arguments (just had one this last weekend!) with people who say that relationships with pets do not replace those with people. No, they don't. Because they're not supposed to, they're something else, completely. And relationships with people CAN'T replace those with pets. NOTHING AND NO ONE WILL REPLACE MY PETS AND OUR RELATIONSHIPS. When you write "Some would consider losing a dog a practice for real life. I’d place it in a category entirely of its own", it comforts me that some might unsderstand a little how I feel, how I live, the life, the infinite and beyound love I share with my dog today, and with all the pets I had the privilege to meet and live with. I am so happy for this life lived with these more than special creatures! By the way, you inspire me to write more about it! Lots of love, Ana and Rúbi - all the way from Brazil. :-)
Thank you, Andrew, for being so transparent about your own battles with helplessness and the events that led to those feelings. Most of all, I want to thank you for championing the wonderful place that dogs occupy in our lives - by grounding us with their need for us to care for them (even when we don’t feel like it) and for the humor with which their antics bless us!
Andrew I followed you and Momo for so long but when my version of Momo passed away I had to step away a bit as she was Momo’s doppelgänger. A sweet high energy border collie named Isabel that was everything you said Momo was. I was blessed she found me and got me through my tough times. It was always go-go-go with her even if all I wanted to do was curl up on the sofa with the curtains drawn. She lived to be 16 and like Momo she had terrible arthritis and had cognitive decline. It was painful to witness but towards the end the best I could do for her was give her whatever she wanted. I now am facing that again with my special dog Ike, truly my best friend who is approaching 15 and the same story as Isabel, terrible arthritis, losing one eye, having ccl surgery and Cushing disease. He has been with me through my divorce, job losses, losing Isabel, the pandemic. He’s been my rock! I dread the day when I have to say goodbye to him too.
Sorry, what I came here to really say is that I think you are amazing and from where I sit, a very strong person who loves his dogs. I appreciate your art and your writing. You are appreciated!
Thank you for sharing Andrew. Are you open to share how you navigated life after Momo’s passing? I ask because I said goodbye to my beloved dog on Monday and the 💔 feels crushing. I appreciate any thoughts.
Thank you Andrew. Each of my dogs always walked with me when no one else would. There is something to that. That all lives matter. I’ve loved each of them as you have yours… They just know so much about living. Thank you for your courageous writing.
Thank you so much for your words, this speaks to me on so many levels. I find you so inspirational.
So sorry that what’s being done here now scares Canadians, it is pretty frightening here. There are plenty of folks here who are on Your side, even so much that we may leave our homes to escape what it’s becoming . Winters there rain daily - that’s one place we thought of moving 🥴well ….
Just wanted to say I’m sorry that the issue with two siblings fell on your head after the other earlier losses. I can’t fathom the loss Of your heart dog, Momo. You know … it starts to seem as if you need a helmet to keep the crap from falling directly onto your head .
I remember your writing about friends that you chose become family, your time living in the barn. I imagine many times being back at the barn with Momo at your side seems sooo life saving - if we only had a Time Machine. Damn
You are going to accomplish everything you want- you have such a sincere way. May blessings fall upon you, Boo, and Yaya soon- so you take off the helmet. (My helmet days were when my brother got cancer, then my Dad died in my arms from it , not a year later Jerrys cancer was back. I had had cancer myself and was def afraid I’d get it again . Wow
Losing my only sibling decimated me . )
Life can really suck : thank you for wanting and showing the way to lemonade
Always
Doggos furever ❤️