I Got a New Puppy Two Weeks After Losing My “Heart Dog”
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Tips for coping with your loss and acquiring a new pet after losing one
On January 16th, 2019, I lost my best friend of ten years. My border collie Lucky had to be euthanized due to severe health issues.
My husband and I were devastated. Even our toddler Willow was acting out after he passed away, throwing epic tantrums while screaming “doggie gone!!”.
Since I am a fortunate person, this was my first experience with the death of a close loved one. I’ve gone 35 years without experiencing soul-crushing grief.
In the days following Lucky’s death, our household was a sad one. My husband fell into a deep depression, our daughter was miserable, and I would wait until she was asleep to cry in bed.
We were in bad shape, but that would soon change. We would be happy again.
Two weeks later, our household is full of smiles and love again. We are laughing, having fun, and slowly healing from Lucky’s passing.
How did we find our smiles again? We adopted a female border collie puppy, who we named Phoenix.
We would’ve done anything to bring Lucky back, but that was not an option so my husband did the next best thing.
He called the farm I had adopted Lucky from and asked the owner to put a hold on a female “blue merle” border collie puppy.
The adoption of our new family member was meant to be. Phoenix was ready for adoption a week after he called which gave us time to prepare for our new addition.
I believe if something is meant to happen, it will happen. If there aren’t any signs or if there’s a lot of obstacles, it’s not meant to be.
Our new puppy is a descendant of our dog Lucky. Lucky’s mother is her great grandmother. Talk about kismet.
Now, this is a controversial act for many pet owners. Some pet owners feel it is totally disrespectful to the memory of your deceased pet to immediately get a new one. They feel that you’re replacing your pet as if they didn’t matter.
