It’s OK to love again…

I’m often asked this question by inquiring clients… “I just lost my (insert pet’s name)… How long should I wait before getting a puppy?”  People frequently call us after losing a beloved canine family member, asking about our upcoming litters.  Although many of them also seem to have this guilt about even thinking of bringing a new puppy home so soon after their loss.  To those of you battling this, I’m writing this to you…

Losing a dog is one of the most painful times of grief I have ever experienced.  And it never gets easier.  Each dog is individual, and each will have their own place in your heart.

I think people feel like they’re betraying the dog they just lost, by getting a puppy.  Like they’re trying to replace them… I truly believe that our dogs are family, and they want us to be happy and to both love and be loved.  Anyone who has owned a lab (or been owned BY one!), knows once you have a lab, it just doesn’t feel right to be without one…  They know this.  They know we need them.

 

 From my labby heart to yours… It’s OK to love again. It’s OK to open up your heart once more.  Someday it will be broken again (though we wish they could live forever)… but it will be worth it.  It’s always worth it.

It’s a personal decision, when to expand your family with furry footsteps again… There is no right or wrong amount of time for grieving…but please don’t think you’ve betrayed the dog you just lost!  Just because you get a puppy does not mean that you’ve forgotten or suddenly “gotten over” them.

I’ve also had people ask if, for example, they should get another black lab or switch it up and get a yellow this time?  Again, totally a personal decision… Some worry they will compare the pup to their other dog if they get the same color/sex.  I think most find that each dog is really so individual, that your new pup will become his or her own self and take a completely new place in your heart.

Dogs are the most selfless creatures on earth.  They spend their whole lives wanting us to be happy, and I don’t think that changes once they’ve gone…

“…Grieve not, nor speak of me with tears, but laugh and talk of me as if I were beside you…
I loved you so – ’twas Heaven here with you.”

-Isla Pachal Richardson