Coping with loss of a young dog

ROMANY 1959

ROMANY 1959

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My best friend and her husband lost their 10 month old cocker yesterday in a terrible accident with a car..it was killed outright, never suffered ..now I breed this young bitch, and her owners loved her so so much, we are all devastated, them more so and she was in their care when she slipped her collar and bolted.
But I am devastated too.. she was my fav of the litter, we kept her an extra few weeks till they were ready, and now she is gone. Taken far too early and I’ve not stopped crying on and off for 24 hours. How do you get over the tragic loss of such a young beautiful little dog, ? They are coming to see us Saturday, and I know I will break down, they are trying to be so brave too. Never thought it would hit me like this. Any idea how to pull myself together by Saturday
 
dont worry if you dont, a good cry would do you all good, no point being british stiff upper lip in these sort of cases. its tragic to lose such a young dog but take comfort that she didnt suffer and was having a hooley in her last minutes and wouldnt have known anything.....
 
ROMANY 1959 said:
My best friend and her husband lost their 10 month old cocker yesterday in a terrible accident with a car..it was killed outright, never suffered ..now I breed this young bitch, and her owners loved her so so much, we are all devastated, them more so and she was in their care when she slipped her collar and bolted.
But I am devastated too.. she was my fav of the litter, we kept her an extra few weeks till they were ready, and now she is gone. Taken far too early and I’ve not stopped crying on and off for 24 hours. How do you get over the tragic loss of such a young beautiful little dog, ? They are coming to see us Saturday, and I know I will break down, they are trying to be so brave too. Never thought it would hit me like this. Any idea how to pull myself together by Saturday
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So very sorry. Dreadfully sad for you all. You will get over her loss - in that every time you think of her & the way she died, you will no longer feel immense sadness. Allow yourself to grieve, a young death by accident is a shock and what you are feeling at this moment in time is normal. Don’t be afraid about breaking down on Saturday, her owners probably feel incredibly guilty about her death, how you entrusted her to them & how they will perceive her death as letting you & her down. Just be open with each other & grieve together.
 
So very sorry, it will take you some time for the horror of it all to recede. Not only are you coping with sadness but the shock too. It’s not wrong to cry, grieving is a process that needs to be gone through. You won’t forget but the feelings will ease. So sorry for you all xx
 
I wouldnt worry about it, if you cry, you cry. Im sure you all will, I know I would. Why wouldnt you, it must be devastating, its awful enough when its an older dog and you are half expecting it, to lose a young dog must be so much worse
 
I’m so sorry. I lost my first GSD at 5 years in tragic circumstances so understand the pain and shock.

You need time to grieve and that will take as long as it takes I’m afraid. It’s different for all of us.

I think a good cry together with the bereft owners on Saturday will do you all a lot of good, as well as sharing stories and memories.

My heart breaks for you all.
 
I really feel for you losing any dog is awful but a young one unexpectedly doubly so. - I have had many dogs over the years and all but one have lived to grand ages and either died naturally or gently helped on their way when health issues became to much to let them suffer.

Of course we mourned them all, and still do. But the younger one, not as young as your little one but still a young healthy dog that should have had many years ahead of it still had a tragic accident out on its morning walk around the fields checking the herd with my OH.....she saw a neighbours cat in the field and launched off after it with my little Patterdale and misjudged a high bank and crashed chest first into it and collapsed. We got her to the vets within the hour but she died very quickly from internal bleeding. It still haunts me to this day, so many irrational 'what ifs'.

I am sorry if this offends some people (and i do have children of my own whom I love deeply) but losing a young dog (or most pets/horses etc.) unexpectedly at a young age is almost as traumatic as losing a child, to me anyway.....I always have the usual expectation of a young pup being in the family for a reasonable amount of years and can cope reasonably well with the expected later years and eventual death. However, I am not programmed to bury young dogs prematurely, much as we are not programmed to bury our own children.
 
How tragic. Don’t feel you need to hold it together Saturday- I find the harder I try to not get emotional the more I do.
I lost a dog very quickly to cancer aged five, even with about a month from first vets appointment to getting him PTS it still felt sudden and shocking, your circumstances need time to process.

I agree: although they are not my children (I have two sons and two dogs and two horses, oh and the cat) they are a huge part of our family. My pony got PTS last Friday, and although he doesn’t live in the house like the dogs, I have cried or welled up everyday in the lead up (planned due to failing liver) and every day since. He was only 7.

If tears come let them. But also try to smile about the amazing 10 months I’m sure they had
 
Dreadfully sad things happen and tbh i dont think we should try to hide the grief we feel, you don't need to pull yourself together for Saturday and you probably won't be able to anyway. I had the most awful experience of killing my neighbour's lovely young springer bitch. She had got out onto the lane and ran in front of my lorry early one morning when it was half light, I had no chance to stop and sadly, unlike this cocker, she wasn't killed instantly which was really dreadful. We were both distraught, I blamed myself for not being able to stop, she blamed herself for not keeping the bitch secure but there was no point in blaming anyone, it was just a dreadful accident and however hard we might have wanted, we could not turn the clock back and change things. We are very good friends, life goes on and I always get a phone call when her new springer has puppies.
 
I have never lost one so young or in a accident but I lost one at seven to cancer he was dead in days the shock was awful it was years before I replaced him .
It just wiped me out .
 
It is 4 am sat morning, and I can’t sleep knowing my friends are coming over this morning to talk about willow the dog who was killed.. just want to get this day over with, we will cry, grieve and hope to move on.. willows mum, my bitch is the image of each other.. feeling so sad
 
Well we survived..we cried together, all 4 of us, and talked about willow... and ended up with them asking to be put on my bitches list for the next litter, for 2 puppies... they went off at 1 pm to the garden centre to buy a willow tree, a miniature one , to plant in the garden and then bury willow the cocker tomorrow. They are collecting her from the pet cem place who has prepared her for them... ...we are all at peace with it now... so sad though. Thanks for all your kind thoughts
 
I’m glad you got through it ok. I’m sure sharing the grief as well as remembering the good times will have been a help to you all.

I’d advise against selling two pups from the same litter unless they are fully aware of the work involved in raising two and the potential for littermate syndrome.
 
So sorry to hear of such a tragic accident. I lost my first cocker at 4 months very suddenly due to a freak accident. It was horrendous but I got through it somehow.

It's lovely to hear that they want another pup from you but please, please advise them against having two pups together, it really isn't advisable and certainly something I would not have allowed from my own litter.
 
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