How do you get over it?

[TwuntyFriend]

This is very hard to write.

10 years ago we rescued the most amazing dog. She didn't put a foot (Paw) wrong the entire time we had her. When my son was born she became his second mum and incredibly loyal to him.

At the weekend she sadly passed away. It all happened so quickly - within a matter of two hours. By the time we reached the Vets she was in respiratory distress and organ failure, and the kindest thing to do was put her to sleep.

We are truly devastated, especially my son. I'm not sure it's really sunk in yet, and I keep calling her to let her out in the garden, and checking where she is before I open the door.

How do you cope with this? I keep crying every time I think of her, and the whole family are just wandering around in a daze.

You don’t just get over it, you mourn your lost family member and over time it gets less sharp and you remember their life more than their death... and at some point it’s just something you think of sadly instead of being devastated by it.

But it’s totally normal and fine to be affected by it, it’d be a bit odd if you weren’t really.

Oh op I'm so sorry. It's devastating.

I lost my 15 year old dog this time last year and I spent a good three weeks crying every single day, proper sobbing 😭. After that it gradually got less but even now a year later and with another pup I still cry now and again if I think about him.

Time is your friend. With time your memories will change to happy ones about her life tinged with sadness that she is gone rather than gut wrenching grief. I lost my dog last year, and I've made peace with it now. I remember all his funny little ways and smile. The first few weeks were hard, all I could see in my mind was his last moments.

So sorry OP. This is truly the hardest bit of loving your pet. As others have said, you let yourself grieve, as you would any other much loved family member or friend.
I still get mist eyed about the childhood dog we lost 30 years ago, and the loss of my friends dog, who regularly walked with my two, still gets to me.
You gave a lovely creature a fully and love-filled life. Try to take comfort from that.

I am so sorry for your loss.

I lost one boy in 2020 to a sudden emergency and the other was pts, after a very long and happy life, earlier this year. The experiences were different, but the loss was just the same. They aren’t just dogs, they are family. You don’t get over it exactly, you grieve and mourn their loss, then gradually get used to them not being there. Do what feels right for you and don’t let anyone tell you how you should or shouldn’t grieve. Everyone is different in the way they process loss and how long it takes them to be able to move forwards.

It’s been 3 months since we lost our last dog and I still got a shock when I went to the toilet in the middle of the night last night and suddenly realised all over again that his bed wasn’t there with him in it. I do still shed tears over them both (and the others that preceded them) but it is less painful than it was and the family is able to share funny stories about them now. Yesterday we went to a beauty spot for a walk without a dog for the first time since before we were married (30 years ago). It was poignant, but alongside the sadness we reminisced about the dogs we’ve taken there over the years and their antics and we were able to smile too.

We will be welcoming a new pup in a few weeks. It’s a relatively short length of time since we lost our old dog, but our family needs a dog as it’s focus and our home is just not a home without one. We will still miss our old dogs every day, but the new pup will bring joy and a chance to be happy in the moment back into our lives.

Oh I'm sorry. It is awful, time is your friend contrite as it sounds.

I'm afraid you never get over it. It will get better over time. I feel for you. I lost one of my dogs 3 month ago it still upsets me.