Full circle.

[SallyBear]

We collected my lovely Sally's ashes today after seeing a litter of puppies. It's a sort of full circle. A new puppy will never replace her, but it might help heal the hurt of her loss. We had her from an 8 week old puppy and she lived to the ripe old age of 14yrs and 4 months exactly. Not bad going for a labrador

So tomorrow I am going to buy a new shrub/tree and plant it over her ashes so she will always be with us, in the garden which was her favourite place shading us from the sun and soothing us with the sound of the leaves blowing in the breeze.

That's lovely!

Very similar here SallyBear. I had to have my oldie 16 year old lab Kizzy pts yesterday....absolutely gutted, The dc's can not remember life without her, she has always been around and will be missed like crazy. She was the bossy bitch in my house that used to look after all the foster dogs so well.

However today I picked up two 5 week old puppies that had been abandoned when their mother died and will be fostering them for the next few weeks. I have the feeling that my old labs spirit will be looking after them. Interestingly another of my dogs that was brought up by Kizzy seems to be taking over her mothering role, she was taught well.

Losing the dogs that we have had for such a long time is so hard and noone can replace them, we must talk about them, remember the good times and live as they did just enjoying every day.

My daughter gave me a big hug and said "Thank you for giving me the best childhood ever with Kizzy" She even brought the children up better than I did

Take care and look after yourself and reminisce about Sally and look forward to the happy days ahead with your new puppy

Thank you both of you. Idirdog - sniff. That was beautiful. Hoping that our two lovely girls meet and go for a refreshing swim in a cool clear lake.

Where's the emoticon for bitter-sweet-that-made-me-snivel ?

Yes, the pups won't replace your lovely girls but they will help fill that dog-shaped hole. And the tree is a lovely idea (so long as the new pup doesn't wee on it too much...)

Sallybear I was doing ok until I imagined the girlies swimming together. I really really hope they are.

GrimmaTheNome bet it does

Sally, that's a lovely idea. (I had a similar thought to Grimma though - you may need to screen it for a while when your pup is at the plant destroying gardening stage.)

Idir, I'm so sorry for you loss. It sounds like she had a long and very happy life with you and your family and she was definitely a very lucky girl to have had you to take care of her.

Similar story here. I picked up Holly's ashes on Wednesday last week, and will be getting new pup on Saturday. I don't particularly love my house, so I'm going to hold on to the ashes until I move, and will plant it under a holly bush.

Holly never much liked swimming so I can't see her joining in the lake swimming, but I bet she'll be bouncing about on the shore, burying things and sunbathing even in the hottest sunshine.