Grieving for your animal? A memorial might help
If you’re grieving for your animal, create a pet memorial to focus the love you feel into something tangible. A pet memorial is “something that keeps remembrance alive.” And taking action to remember your animal honors your relationship. Doing something positive gives...
How Dogs Love Us by Gregory Berns
I fell in love with the book, How Dogs Love Us: A Neuroscientist and His Adopted Dog Decode the Canine Brain by Gregory Berns, M.D., Ph.D. But I almost quit reading a couple of times. Most animal research is awful. I would never volunteer my beloved companions to...
End of Life Goodness
I worked hard to find end of life goodness with my pups, Stella and Tibor. Sometimes I succeeded, sometimes I didn’t. Writing Peace in Passing: Comfort for Loving Humans During Animal Transitions did not spare me from my grief. But I tried to practice what I preached...
How do we help? Focus on our heart
Focus on our heart - that's my best go-to response when I hear about or am living through tough situations. My heart cries for others' tragedies. My heart cheers for others' triumphs. But I need more to emotionally keep my head above the water. I need to focus my...
Why people hang on at the end of life
Why people hang on at the end of life is part of an hour discussion I had with Pete Johnson, who does what he calls, “mediumship for the living”. He communicates with people who are unable to communicate through speaking. More specifically, we’re talking about...
Religiosity & End of Life
Religiosity & End of Life is part of an hour discussion I had with Pete Johnson, who does what he calls, “mediumship for the living”. Pete communicates with people who are unable to communicate through speaking. In this case, we’re talking about communicating...
Healing & Death
I think I'm supposed to talk about healing & death this month. (Note to readers: I originally published this article February 2012. But it seems relevant in 2022, since we just let our beautiful, funny, loving dog Stella go this week. Mitsubishi was her first...
Asking the dog if it’s OK to go to Paris
"Would it be OK to go to Paris for two weeks?" That's what some great folks wanted find out from their dog, Starr. They had a lovely vacation planned, but were a little nervous about leaving Starr behind for that time. I understand. It would be pretty hard to cut a...
Lessons Learned from Tibor The Rescue Pup
Before I found Tibor the rescue pup, my Siberian Husky, Mitsubishi (the kids named him; need I say more???) passed away. He joined my family shortly after my first husband, Winston, died and was a great comfort for 12 years. When I asked Mitsubishi why he left, he...
Lighthearted Animal Stories
These lighthearted animal stories are some of my favorites! So I just had to share them with you. I bet you cherish lighthearted stories about your animals, too! Even after they’ve passed, those stories bring a smile to our faces. Did her cat just say they’re married?...