Taxidermy?

[Pepi]

I hope ive put this in the right section. Just wondering has anyone ever had their deceased pet taxidermied and if so what has been your experience and does anyone know anyone in Adelaide who does this?

Edited March 13, 2010 by Pepi

[Parkeyre]

I hope ive put this in the right section. Just wondering has anyone ever had their deceased pet taxidermied and if so what has been your experience and does anyone know anyone in Adelaide who does this?

I would consider this, but i dont think i could go through with it.

There is a DOL member who does taxidermy, maybe she will put you in the right place.

[Pepi]

I hope ive put this in the right section. Just wondering has anyone ever had their deceased pet taxidermied and if so what has been your experience and does anyone know anyone in Adelaide who does this?

I would consider this, but i dont think i could go through with it.

There is a DOL member who does taxidermy, maybe she will put you in the right place.

Thanks for replying to my post. I hope she sees this post and replies

[The Ark]

I couldn't do this as I had a nightmare about 20 years ago in which my (then alive) dog had died and been stuffed, and when I walked past him (the stuffed him) in the lounge room he yelped. Have been haunted by that for years. His ashes are now on our shelf here instead.

[Pepi]

I couldn't do this as I had a nightmare about 20 years ago in which my (then alive) dog had died and been stuffed, and when I walked past him (the stuffed him) in the lounge room he yelped. Have been haunted by that for years. His ashes are now on our shelf here instead.

OMG what a scary experience.

[Red Fox]

I'm sure there has been a thread about this before... Maybe you could try a search and see what comes up?

*eta* found it http://www.dolforums.com.au/index.php?show...hl=taxidermists

Edited March 13, 2010 by SecretKei

[poodlefan]

I can recall reading an article featuring a professional taxidermist in Dogs Life many years ago. He strongly discouraged pet owners from having their dogs done - said in his experience too many live to regret it.

No matter how good a job is done, it's still a stuffed dog. Pets deserve a more dignified end than ending up in the garage when the novelty wears off IMO.

[persephone]

pepi-

I hope you aren't offended by what I am about to write- I feel so sorry that you are having such a hard time

When your boy dies, you will desperately want him back- you will ache to feel his wet nose, watch him gaze at you, and see his tail wag.... all the things which make us love our dogs.

A taxidermied body is not your dog- really.

It is the skin and fur which covered your dog's spirit........... THAT was the part of the dog which YOU LOVED, and which loved you.

A taxidermist with skill can do a marvellous job- but what if the expression left is not one which you like all that much?

The taxidermied skin will not be 'cuddly'- it will look like your dog- but will be missing that 'spark'.

I don't know- people do have their pet's remains taxidermied...I could not.

I could not walk past the dead body of my pet every day......

Perhaps have him cremated- then you can carry the ashes with you - or bury the urn in a pot with a gorgeous plant?

My dogs are all buried within sight of our house.... and it is their spirit which I still feel around every so often ,and which I treasure

Wishing you calm and all things good as you go through all this.

[Pepi]

pepi-

I hope you aren't offended by what I am about to write- I feel so sorry that you are having such a hard time

When your boy dies, you will desperately want him back- you will ache to feel his wet nose, watch him gaze at you, and see his tail wag.... all the things which make us love our dogs.

A taxidermied body is not your dog- really.

It is the skin and fur which covered your dog's spirit........... THAT was the part of the dog which YOU LOVED, and which loved you.

A taxidermist with skill can do a marvellous job- but what if the expression left is not one which you like all that much?

The taxidermied skin will not be 'cuddly'- it will look like your dog- but will be missing that 'spark'.

I don't know- people do have their pet's remains taxidermied...I could not.

I could not walk past the dead body of my pet every day......

Perhaps have him cremated- then you can carry the ashes with you - or bury the urn in a pot with a gorgeous plant?

My dogs are all buried within sight of our house.... and it is their spirit which I still feel around every so often ,and which I treasure

Wishing you calm and all things good as you go through all this.

Something about cremating him is out the question for him. I would love nothing more than to burry him but my parents are thinking of selling their home and i dont have a permanent one of my own and i dont want to leave him behind when they sell up.

I dont know what to do. A pet cemetary seemed like a good idea but they dont have one here in Adelaide. I want somewhere i can visit him

[sandgrubber]

I did some taxidermy as a teenager. It's ok if you want to make a museum specimen out of some road kill. The thought of doing it to someone's dog is horrifying.

[~JoLu~]

Something about cremating him is out the question for him. I would love nothing more than to burry him but my parents are thinking of selling their home and i dont have a permanent one of my own and i dont want to leave him behind when they sell up.

I dont know what to do. A pet cemetary seemed like a good idea but they dont have one here in Adelaide. I want somewhere i can visit him

What about something like this: www.lifegemaustralia.com.au - although would still require cremation

[Okami]

Personally I find taxidermy.... not something that I would choose to do myself....

I think there are other ways to tribute and remember a loved pet who has passed on...

I think it would be nicer to have them alive and happy in my thoughts.... than potentially collecting dust in the corner

Although in the moment of losing a beloved pet it might seem a great idea.... ten years on.... you might feel differently.... and then potentially guilty... you know... if it gets shuffled of into the garage or something....

Sorry.... I'm no help... and I don't think I'm making you feel better either....

[WoofnHoof]

Just a thought do you know if there is any reason a pet can't be buried in a human cemetary? I mean if you pay for a burial plot theoretically you should be able to bury whatever you want there, maybe you could buy the plot for yourself and bury him there? I don't know there are probably rules against it though.

[Dame Aussie]

pepi-

I hope you aren't offended by what I am about to write- I feel so sorry that you are having such a hard time

When your boy dies, you will desperately want him back- you will ache to feel his wet nose, watch him gaze at you, and see his tail wag.... all the things which make us love our dogs.

A taxidermied body is not your dog- really.

It is the skin and fur which covered your dog's spirit........... THAT was the part of the dog which YOU LOVED, and which loved you.

A taxidermist with skill can do a marvellous job- but what if the expression left is not one which you like all that much?

The taxidermied skin will not be 'cuddly'- it will look like your dog- but will be missing that 'spark'.

I don't know- people do have their pet's remains taxidermied...I could not.

I could not walk past the dead body of my pet every day......

Perhaps have him cremated- then you can carry the ashes with you - or bury the urn in a pot with a gorgeous plant?

My dogs are all buried within sight of our house.... and it is their spirit which I still feel around every so often ,and which I treasure

Wishing you calm and all things good as you go through all this.

What a lovely post Persephone, almost made me cry!!

I agree, I can understand you want to keep your friend with you, but it won't be your friend anymore. There are places which will put your pets ashes into jewellery etc...I know you aren't keen on cremation but I've always thought this was a lovely idea.

http://www.ashestoashes.com/

BEst wishes and good luck with your decision

[Crisovar]

I have seen some lovely urns and also beautiful memorial jewelery made from ashes, some lovely items are available, which personally I prefer to the idea of taxidermy.

It is a personal thing, but if you have alook into it you may find something that you really do like that will be easier to keep over the years.

I have seen a once beloved pet at a garage sale for a charity, the owner had passed away and the family donated it off with all her belongings, it went off to a young child as a toy, I would hate for that to happen to one of mine.

[Erny]

Agree that it is a personal thing. Me? I think I'd be more saddened to see my dog without the 'life' that makes him shine as he does. I'd rather remember his physical state with the 'life' that makes his personality, his 'sparkle'. I'd be spooked out to have him taxidermied and standing lifeless and still in some corner.

I'm a bit of an 'ashes to ashes, dust to dust' person and prefer to let them return from whence they came. It's their spirit that counts and is what we cherish, not so much their bodily form. I would have preferred burial for my avatar girl (bless her cotton socks) but it wasn't feasible at the time, so I had her cremated. Receiving her ashes was special, and they are in the nice box in which they came, but I've buried that. For a while, I felt that's where she was, but that feeling took a shift ............... and I know that she is in my heart and around me, that it is not 'her' in the cremation box. I would feel the same if she had been buried but at least, if I move, I can bring her remains with me.

Sorry - Can't help you with a name of a good taxidermist.

Edited March 13, 2010 by Erny

[newfsie]

I personally could not have my dog taxidermied........., I am lucky now because they can be buried on our property and we have several dogs of friends buried here too, because they like you were still moving around. Do you know anyone with a preperty who may allow that, I surely would be happy to do that for a person........Because in my early days we traveled a lot, we have had to leave loved ones behind. This always gave me some comfort to read

Where To Bury A Dog

There are various places within which a dog may be buried. We are thinking now of a setter, whose coat was flame in the sunshine, and who, so far as we are aware, never entertained a mean or an unworthy thought. This setter is buried beneath a cherry tree, under four feet of garden loam, and at its proper season the cherry strews petals on the green lawn of his grave. Beneath a cherry tree, or an apple, or any flowering shrub of the garden, is an excellent place to bury a good dog. Beneath such trees, such shrubs, he slept in the drowsy summer, or gnawed at a flavorous bone, or lifted head to challenge some strange intruder. These are good places, in life or in death. Yet it is a small matter, and it touches sentiment more than anything else.

For if the dog be well remembered, if sometimes he leaps through your dreams actual as in life, eyes kindling, questing, asking, laughing, begging, it matters not at all where that dog sleeps at long and at last. On a hill where the wind is unrebuked and the trees are roaring, or beside a stream he knew in puppyhood, or somewhere in the flatness of a pasture land, where most exhilarating cattle graze. It is all one to the dog, and all one to you, and nothing is gained, and nothing lost -- if memory lives. But there is one best place to bury a dog. One place that is best of all.

If you bury him in this spot, the secret of which you must already have, he will come to you when you call -- come to you over the grim, dim frontiers of death, and down the well-remembered path, and to your side again. And though you call a dozen living dogs to heel they should not growl at him, nor resent his coming, for he is yours and he belongs there.

People may scoff at you, who see no lightest blade of grass bent by his footfall, who hear no whimper pitched too fine for mere audition, people who may never really have had a dog. Smile at them then, for you shall know something that is hidden from them, and which is well worth the knowing.

The one best place to bury a good dog is in the heart of his master.

by Ben Hur Lampman

Edited March 13, 2010 by newfsie

[Crisovar]

Beautiful, thank you for posting that.

[indigirl]

Years ago friends of the family had their cat Oscar stuffed by a taxidermist. Oscar was a hard expressionless lump stuck on a board. He was not nice to pat, there was nothing cuddly or sweet about him. He was left out of sight on top of the wardrobe for yrs and eventually thrown out.

I would think very carefully about what you want from your stuffed pet. If you are ok with something that is hard as a rock and lifeless then maybe its a reasonable option.

I either bury my dogs or have them cremated. The most recent dog I lost was buried in the backyard of a house Ive now sold. Bit sad to leave him behind but hes long gone from this earth anyway. Dog before him I had cremated, now I have an urn full of ashes that I dont know what to do with. I dont want to treat the urn like the holy grail, but likewise I need somewhere special to spread his ashes. My first choice is always to bury them, its just not an option where Im living now.

I hope you are happy with whatever option you choose. I would phone the AWL in Adelaide, Im sure they would know a good taxidermist.

[Pepi]

Thanks everyone for your input and suggestions. I was just thinking would it be a good idea to get a large pot to burry him, a heavy duty one that will last and not fall apart. Do you think this could be ok so i could take him wherever i go?

He is only a small dog being a toy poodle and weighing in at about 6kg.