How to Deal with the Death of Your Shih-Tzu Dog

I am a proud Shih-Tzu owner, having owned my first Shih-Tzu from the age of seventeen. My first dog, Misty, was a beautiful animal both in look and spirit, and lived to the ripe old age of seventeen. That is in the eighties range in human years. I have a new Shih-Tzu puppy named Kissy. She is a beautiful dog that looks like a teddy bear, and with fur that feels like cotton, just like Misty.

The death of a pet can be both psychologically and physically devastating. If you have never gone through the death of a beloved pet, the first time is quite a sad and emotional experience. The death of my dog Misty started on a hellish day in July, 2005. I raced my dog to the clinic when she started having seizures and screaming out in pain. She suffered one bad night before her death, and the very next day I was on the phone to the vet, who suggested we take her to the place where they can administer oxygen and check her out. My parents and I went together as a family to the clinic, me crying hysterically the minute I walked in there, the reality hitting me that we would be putting her to sleep that day, and that was the last day of us being together.

I am proud of myself that I got her to the clinic fast, so she didn't have to suffer endlessly. She was blind, bumping into walls, depressed. Her heart was failing, her kidney's were shutting down, and she was miserable, and that was it, time to take her out of her misery, before the pain started. All she had up until the few days before her death was a few months of blindness and arthritis in her back. I wasn't about to let my baby suffer for any selfish reason on my part by keeping her alive with a battery of tests and treatments when she wanted to go. An animal instinctively knows when it is ready to die, and Misty was ready. It was time. She was hallucinating, going into seizures and that was it. When I put her on the examining room table, her little, limp body was almost stiff, and the doctor took one look at her, and then looked at me. I knew what he thought; this dog was ready to pass. He examined her, and then asked us what we wanted to do. I looked at my mother, and we both agreed.

It is not easy dealing with the loss of a member of your family. Our pets comfort us, protect us and love unconditionally. They are gifts, given to us to keep humans safe and happy. I know my two gifts were sent to me to help me in this life. I truly believe this. When I first saw Misty, she rounded the corner, took one look at me, and we bonded instantly.

There are things one can do to recover from loss. I don't want to sound cruel by saying "get over" but your animal will want you to heal and move forward, and that is exactly what you do, in time. Sometimes it takes having another little baby to help you move forward after you recover naturally from the grieving process and become strong again. Here is how I grieved, what I did, and how I coped with losing my best friend.

Number one: It is important to have positive people around you who knew your dog as well. If you are alone, it is good to talk to someone, anyone, be it like-minded pet owner, counselor or even on-line. There are many support groups as well for pet bereavement. With positive people around you, the love is shared, and love heals, more so than indifference or any negativity that belittles your tragedy.

Number Two: Grieve. I cannot stress this enough. Cry, scream, pound your fists into the pillow. Go for long power walks while analyzing your dog's life and what the pooch meant to you. When I came home from the clinic, I was red; probably nerves and blood pressure, so I took a cool towel, placed it over my forehead, and lay on the couch, looking at pictures of Misty when she was a young dog. I talked about her for months. I planted beautiful plants on her grave, which grew almost six feet tall. I put little red shells on her grave and an angel stone figurine. I painted the shells red so they would match the green plants at Christmas time. Any little thing was all part of the process.

Number Three: If you want another dog, slow yourself into the transition. Make sure you are ready. Go to dog parks, watch other dogs and their owners. See how this makes you feel. Do you miss it, or are you indifferent? If you don't have allergies, go to a shelter and volunteer or hang out with a friend's pooch, anything to assimilate you back into the pet-owner world. You may not be ready yet, or you might have the chance to do things you haven't done before, like travel. If you find you cannot live without another dog, or that the grieving process was not complete without purchasing a similar pet, then you know it is time for a new addition.

When I got Kissy, I was ready. We didn't bond right away, because there was too much work to be done to get her into good shape.This beautiful animal was loaded with tape worms and fleas. The woman breeder picked her up by her leg when taking her out of the cage, and I knew that this four month old baby puppy had been abused. I walked over and grabbed her, telling the woman to not pick her up like that again. I knew it wasn't well, but I didn't care. I could tell it was a good dog. This Shih-Tzu was my new project, the perfect solution to my grieving as well. I had to get her better, her life depended on it, and I couldn't lose another dog. Through the mission of healing this little creature, I found healing. One time I noticed the color in one spot on Kissy was the same caramel color that Misty's fur used to be. Kissy's main colors are grey and white! It made me wonder, reincarnation or closure? Possibly both. But either way, love never dies.