Little Signs 🐾

The day after George passed away I took Chocolat for  a walk. I ran into a lady walking her white poodle;  she wanted to know if the dogs could say hello. I told her Chocolat could be a little timid and told her the story about how he came to be with me after  his Papa died of a heart attach in January.  Chocolat has been nicknamed George’s comfort dog since he came to live with us. Anywhere George went, Chocolat was right beside him. We chatted for a bit, and when she left I heard her say “Come on George”, I stopped dead in my tracks…Not sure I heard right, I asked if her dog’s name was George? Then I proceeded to tell her about my George who had crossed the rainbow bridge the day before.

In the clouds 🐾

A couple of days afterwards, I was sitting outside on my little deck and looked up at the clouds…and saw the outline of a dog’s head.

Dreams 🐾

The following Sunday my acupuncturist reached out to see how George was doing. She had come to the house a couple of weeks earlier to see him and provide some therapeutic treatment to help with his back. She told me she had a dream about him.

I had an immense connection with George and he was greatly loved. All these little signs have been heartwarming as I have had a very hard time emotionally dealing with the grief of losing him. Which is why I reached out to Pet loss Support group of Ottawa. I went to my first meeting on Wednesday and my take-away was to write a letter to ME from George. (I have yet to write this)!

In March 2019 I read this article where they discussed 5 reasons why losing a dog is as hard as losing a loved one:

1. Bonding
2. Grieving
3. Love and comfort
4. Memories and routine
5. Guilt

SO, WHAT DOES THIS ALL MEAN?

I am a better person because of George. He taught me love, affection and patience ( when he’d react to other dogs or people). He would lie beside me on the floor and hold my hand with his paw. Losing George has been heartbreaking. I need to remember that my feelings are absolutely valid and that it is okay to need to grieve him. And if other people don’t understand, tell them that your feelings are backed by science!

Read the article here.