Dogs' spirits

Thanks for sharing that.  Now, let me share a message I received yesterday that is very much like yours:

Hello. My husband is on a list with you and he sent me your letter about drowning in grief from the untimely death of your lovely doggie, Heidi. I don't mean to intrude, but I might be able to life some of your grief.

Let's see, where to start? I'll start with Pumpkin, my own sweet doggie run over by a car. I'd had her with me for years, since college, when I'd found her at a pound while looking for my step-mom's run-away dog. The girls at the pound begged me to rescue Pumpkin as it was her last day. She was a little cockapoo, all wiggly and oh, so alive! When the neighbors told me not to look at her dead body I ignored them; she looked like a rug and there seemed to be nothing of Pumpkin there. I went to bed and cried. I was sitting up in the bed, and having a break in my tears, when I felt somethingjump up onto the bed--it felt like Pumpkin, up where she wasn't supposed to be as she was banned from the bed. I couldn't believe it---there were pawprints moving towards me on the bedcover! Indents, impressions for sure!! She was next to me, somehow! I cried even more!!! I wailed and asked for someone to please come and get her and to take care of her until I was with her again. I fell asleep, with her there, and when I awoke she was gone.

I'd not thought much about dogs surviving death before that. I'd had relatives come back as ghosts and one even gave me a message (which I at first ignored not wanting other relatives to think me kooky) which made a great deal of difference to a cousin, telling her after having it shouted at me the second time. So, I believe I wasn't just imagining things.

I later became a past life therapist and one of my clients had an amazing recollection of being a gumpy man, living alone in the moutains somewhere, with only a dog he couldn't drive away as a mate. No matter how ornery this guy was, the dog stayed. My client recognized the dog as the fellow who was his best friend now, a fellow human. Lots of tears followed.

I decided to go inside myself and see if I could connect with Pumpkin. Instead, I found myself with my neighbor's now deceased dog, part wolf and all fun and love, waiting to play with me again. It was an amazing experience. I imagine dog bones for him whenever I think of him. Who knows? He might get them.

I believe that all our pets are with us for important reasons and that they will be with us again, in one form or another. I think you were blessed with a wonderful year, perhaps important for all three of you. An enrichment, no matter how long.