My Dog Died Today: Coping With Grief

Kodi

Today was a bad day: My dog Kodi died.

My Pomeranian was 18 years old and I had him with me for the past ten years.  He had belonged to my son and his girlfriend.  The girlfriend broke up with my son and took Kodi with her.  A few years later she could no longer care for the dog and offered him to us.  We readily agreed and took him in.

Kodi was 18 years old as of April of this year.  He finally started showing and feeling his age and had trouble walking.  He began having breathing problems as well and often whimpered in pain.  My wife took him into the vets to see if anything could be done to prolong his life.  An Xray showed he had developed a large obstruction on his lungs.  It was time to let him go and he died in my wife's arms as the vet administered the fatal dose.

So now we must cope with the grief, seeing all the things that remind us of him, his blankets, his food bowl, the green patch of grass in the backyard where he did his business.  Knowing that we will never see him again, or pet him, feel his fur, or hear him bark or beg for treats. 

It hurts, but our grief is somewhat lessened by the fact that we could see his death coming, and it was not unexpected and not a shock.  The best aspects of this is that he is no longer in pain, that we know we gave him so much love and that we did everything we could to both prolong his life and free him from pain.