Death is arguably one of the hardest things to deal with. You never expect it to hit so close to you, until it does, and you’re left with a lot of pain and a broken heart. We all go through the stages of grief, and we do it in our own way and at our own pace. One way a lot of people choose to cope with death is by finding comfort in a pet. In particular, a dog.

Our furry friends are always there for us when we need them the most. We snuggle them close and they always seem to know just how to keep us happy. But what happens when one of their humans passes away? Who’s there to console them? How do they understand that their human is gone?

This is something I’ve always wondered when I hear about a passing, knowing the person had a pet. And after just having recently suffered a loss, it made me think about it even more.

How do you explain to the dog that he’s not going to walk through that door anymore?

How do you explain to the dog that he’s no longer going to take him running?

How do you explain that he doesn’t need to wait at the door anymore?

Buddy, your human is gone. He’s not coming back. But he loved you, so don’t think that he abandoned you.

For humans, dogs are only a small part of our lives, yet they have a huge impact on us. When one of our pets pass away, it takes us a couple months on average to heal from the loss. A lot of us even go out and get new pets.

But we are a dog’s whole life. We are all they have and all they know, which is why they are so loyal to us.

That’s why it’s so extremely difficult to explain death to them. And it’s frustrating. How can we be sure they will ever understand? How do we protect them from the heartbreak we experience when death occurs?

Explaining death to a dog… A heartbreaking task.

There is a great book written on this topic that I encourage you to read. It’s called Explaining Death to the Dog by Susan Perabo. It will put tears in your eyes but I think it’s something extremely important that all of us dog lovers should have knowledge of.

Rest in peace to all those we’ve lost and love dearly. Humans and dogs.