tikira

Hi Lisa CC Don't think that way, I firmly believe our dogs love us so selflessly that they would be really thrilled you are going to have some happiness again. I know my boy would want me to smile and be happy, he hated me to be sad. It is not a betrayal, I am sure Sam is "up there" busily choosing your new family member, and he will choose the right puppy for you. Good luck Lisa Di

Hi Mudlark Thanks for the vote of "sanity" sometimes I wonder. I agree about the weird little things that you beat yourself up about. We chose to bury Tip, and the other day I found myself covering his grave with a blanket. I don't remember getting it, or putting it there, but I must have, it was there and I was the only one home.... He hated the cold. The only way I can sleep is with a pillow behind my knees and yet I can't sit on "our" lounge. I see and hear him everywhere.I can't eat toast yet, Tip was called Tip Top, after bread (my husbands favourite food) and bread was his favourite too. Thanks for the ideas on a memorial, I am currently working on one for Tip, but it is still a little early to think about a plaque/headstone yet. One foot forward at a time, one "first" at a time.... Di

Hi Ripley. I am so sorry for your loss, she was gorgeous, and looks very spoiled, as it should be. I am feeling the loss of my Jack Russell Tippy a lot at the moment, and are checking out others losses to see how people are coping a little further down the track. Reading your posts I have had the same memories and thoughts as you, it is so hard to look at their fav spots, and every "first" has me in tears. I still can't sit on the lounge we shared. People seem to be at a loss as to what to say, but here there is an area where we do not need to feel strange or weird. Behind the cloak of anonymity we can share our feelings and thoughts. Keep doing this Ripley, I find it helps, and one day, when the time is right, I know I will welcome a new bundle of mischief into the family, and hope that you do too. I am thinking of you as we both go through this impossible situation. Di

Lisa. I am so sorry to hear about Sam, and with all the other difficulties you are dealing with, the pain must be excruciating. I am finding it comforting that strangers on DOL do understand, and grieve with you. There is nothing anyone can say that will take the tears away, just let them flow. I am finding it helpful, although oh so sad, to write memories down, and re-process photo's and videos. It is good I am alone during the days, or I would scare others, not just my remaining dog. There is no illness at the rainbow bridge, and no snakes either....... Hugs to you Lisa Di

That is the best news I have had n days- a lot of people on DOL will be very relieved to hear this. Di

This is the best place for her at the moment Lisa. You would never forgive yourself if she does not recover fully, and you had not given her this chance with specialists. Try to get some sleep (impossible I know), as you will need your strength when she comes home, and to help your partner cope. It will be all much easier when he gets back, as you will have someone to help make decisions, and a shoulder to cry on. Hugs Di

Thanks . Yes, he had a sweet face, it started out looking very worried in the early years, but he grew into it. I am writing down all the stories I can remember, and will ask family and friends to help remind me as well. I am a family historian, and now the dogs have their own pages that I am adding to-I am terrified I will forget the little things. Di

After losing Tip, our Jack Russel to snakebite on Thursday, I wanted to remind you all here that you can NEVER have enough photo's of your loved ones. I used to think that it was a waste of time taking a million photo's of the same dog on the same lounge, or under the same blanket, they were all so similar. Now I am wishing for more, and better photo's of my boy. Thankfully I took photo's of him under his fav blanket on Wednesday. I treasure it already. The other thing I am finding is I want as many memories as possible, and I have forgotten so many of the little things- write them down!!!! Di

Baifra It is good to hear about the things you are doing for Chloe at the moment, and that she is sparking up slightly. We still have Kira, our border Collie, but she has only spent one night in her life without Tip before now, so she too is very quiet and depressed. She has gone around his fav spots, and nudged every blanket she can find, looking for him, just like I want to do. We are planning on upping her training again, and taking more walks, and she is being spoiled, We have also "borrowed" my nephews little dog who regularly stays here for extended periods anyway, for a while, but it is still too quiet, something I know you understand too. My heart aches for you Baifra, right now I am not sure I can stand this for another two weeks, let alone forever. Well done on surviving it for this long..... Hugs to you Di

It is so comforting to know my feelings are all very normal, no-one talks much about pet loss grief, but this forum is wonderful, because I know everyone understands, and is grieving their losses just as hard as I am my own..... I am not strange or weird, and people here are not trying to avoid me, as others are, because they don't understand the depth of it all, and feel I am "over the top". Because of this section of DOL I know I am not strange, and I know I don't need to pretend nothing is wrong. Nothing in our lives has ever hurt this much.......NOTHING Thanks for listening on the first day Kira and I are alone here, Tip was always here when I was, and Wayne has gone back t work. I am off now to read the sticky's at the top of this sub forum again. Di

Once again, thanks. He was our first dog, and we chose a Jack Russell because they are fearless. We didn't realise how headstrong they could be, and if it hadn't been for Rachel(Schatzi's mum) and Leonie at dog training, we would have been in a lot of trouble. But as often happens, the more trouble they are, the more you love them. At nearly 10 he was pretty much perfect. He was so well behaved and was so in tune with Wayne and I. His downside, and the one thing we could not train him out of, or control, was his snake attacking. We snake proofed his yard as much as possible, and had a small yard from the doggy door if he alerted us to one outside the yard, but this time there was no alert, and no noise, or Kira would have heard it. There was no warning, nothing. It was one of those things that happen, and we always knew this would be his fate- I dreamed of it all the time, but still, when the time is right, we will choose another Jack Russelol. Gluttons for punishment I guess! Di

Good luck with this Lisa. It must be so hard with your partner away, it is the one thing I am grateful for, is that Wayne is here to help me through our loss. Bloody snakes ! I hope to see more posts showing improvement. We are thinking of you. Di

Good luck Lisa with Ruby, I am thinking of you, and her- Go Ruby- do it for all the others who couldn't. Di

Thanks everyone for your replies, it really does help to know others understand. I never thought it would be this hard, I have never had a reaction like this to anyone or anythings death before. I feel so unable to stop the tears, and Wayne is feeling so helpless to console me, making it worse. I think I am scaring the other dogs (mine and the nephews), as they are avoiding me at the moment. Tip would have been all over me, with his "rotor Motor" tail stump whirring, as Wayne said this morning, he was my cuddle bunny. Okay, enough feeling sorry for myself, thanks for being a dumping ground for my thoughts..... Di

Thanks all, your thoughts really do help Di

Thanks for the smiles in a day sadly lacking in them for me Great photo story Di

As some of you know we lost our Jack Russell to a brown snake yesterday. This is his tribute Di

As our Jack Russell lost a battle with a brown snake yesterday, grief is saying "dogs first" We have never shed so many tears or felt so devastated in our lives. I guess it totally depends on circumstances. Di

Hi Gillybob So sad to hear this, I know your pain, as Wayne and I lost Tip to snakebite yesterday too. I feel the same, the house is too quiet, and the warmth under the back of my knwws is gone (his fav sleeping spot)Tip was falling over in the hall, trying to get to me, but I could do nothing but rush him to the vet. He fdied just before we got there, the scratching and the deep sigh is haunting me. Truely I don't know how we can all survive these things, but at least we all understand the grief, and talking about it I feel helps make it real, somehow, but already I went to pat my "lumpy' under his blankie this morning, and he wasn't there. I guess it will take us all a long time for it to feel real. Gilly, we met several times at the Armidale dog training centre, Tip was the headstrong Jack Russell. Run free together Bob, Molly and Tip. Take care Di and Wayne

I am so sorry to hear of this awful loss. You must have felt so helpless and I totally understand your grief. I lost my boy today too, from snake bite. It is so hard, already so many tears. I will have to think about how to help our border Collie through this lonely time too. I am lucky to have my nephews dog here for a while, so Kira is not too lonely yet, but I guess Chloe is feeling the separaration too. Di

I agree wholeheartedly- Bloody snakes Lisa CC I hope your partners girl survives, our boy didn't today. Tip was a Jack Russell, and very good at despatching snakes, but not today. We are on 5 acres just outside of town, and it has no trees, almost no shrubs, is kept short, and his backyard has 5 ft paling fences, tight together, cement under it, other palings running horizontally, no known entry points, nothing in the yard, no food, no water no vermin- but still the snakes come. Today Tip lost the battle with a brown snake, he passed away when I was almost at the vets, I guess I can expect a speeding fine or such too, and a gate and tree were victims of my attempts at reversing too. There is nothing we can do about snakes, it is part of life in Australia, and Jack Russells are never going to leave them alone, so I guess my husband and I and our border Collie will just have to survive the tears, but thankfully there were no what ifs- we did all we could. Good luck to all who have snake problems. Di

My dreams about our Jack Russell passing away due to snake bite has finally come true. I knew the last thing I would ever tell him was that he could chase rabbits, well today I told him that. Two days ago I dreamed (again) that the last person Tip saw was Ron, the vet he had "chosen" as a puppy, and who he loved. Then today I had a nap, and felt Tip leave the bed. I woke a little later in a sweat, as a cold shiver had passed through me, the dream was about a brown snake, and it woke me. Tip was in the hall, and couldn't walk properly. A rushed trip to the vet was not enough. I know when he passed, I heard him scratch the seat, and let out a huge sigh. We were on the corner of the vets surgery. As much as we had tried to snake proof the yard, (close paling fence, more palings along the bottom, cemented, mowed short outside and inside the yard, and regular fence checks), it did not work. He was a very typical Jack Russell and we always knew it would be that that took him, there was nothing we could do, but I am so sad that he did not die in my arms, I was too busy driving, and not game to look at him. I had already bacj=ked into a gate and a tree trying to get the car out of the front yard. I am going to miss his headstrong ways. He was our first dog, and one of our two fur babies. He was my world, and I am devastated. but trying to hold it together for my husband, who had to bury him, and is as devastated as I am, it was Wayne who conned me into getting a puppy in the first place- the best decision he ever made. The vets were great, and we werent even charged, just like the first vet visit when Tip was a pup, his first day home. I trod on his foot and thought I had broken his leg. A rushed trip to the duty vet who met us at the surgery, and the crazy puppy jumped all over the vet. Ron did not charfe us that day either, and gave him a health check and a worm tablet too! Di

Vicks really worked with our Jack Russell, just apply to furniture etc that you don't want wrecked, and supply plenty of other interesting things they are allowed to touch. If you see him going for something he shouldn't, redirect his attention to those things he IS allowed to chew. If you don't want a shoe chewer though, don't let him play with your old shoes- hard to know the difference

Yep, I have a couple of "dorks" too. My Jack Russell Tip stole a wire coat hanger once, and tried to escape through his dog door. BANG, as the sides of the coat hanger hit the dog door, and sent him reeling backwards. He shook himself and tried again, and again. He eventually figured out that he had to hold the long end, and the coathanger would fit..... Di

Those photo's are hilarious. Frodo must be an absolute crackup to live with, and when he has a bucket on his head he can't see the camera stalking him either, which must be a bonus. Thanks for sharing Di