Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Lost My Best Friend

Our yellow lab,Bella, passed away in April of 2020. It was hard and we weren't going to replace her. One year later my wife saw a picture of a litter of black lab puppies for sale, one of which had a white star on it's chest. My wife took it as a sign from Bella that we were supposed to get him. So, in May of 2021 we brought home our black lab, Baxter. On Christmas this year our daughter bought my wife a custom made Christmas ornament pictured below. My condolences on the loss of your dog Travis.

That’s a cool ornament, not to mention it’s extra special, it says a lot with only a few true words.

+1

Bro, that made my wife cry. 😔

Sorry, you lost Bella.

🦫

Thank you.

Order has been restored

Lucky dog.

That’s a handsome dog. They are better than people in every way. You’ll see him again.....

I'd like to think so.

I think you’re right, and I have an opinion about that of my own, if I haven’t shared it yet -

If you ever read The Velveteen Rabbit, the synopsis of it is if a kid loves a given stuffed animal/toy enough, it gets the gift of actually coming to life as a real animal.

I’m Catholic. Catholics don’t believe (or at least are taught) that animals don’t really have souls, and thence aren’t included in our after-life/heaven.

I would argue that an inferred parallel in this children’s story meant for the adult is this - If a human loves an animal/pet enough, you give it a piece of YOUR soul, thence elevating its level of existence, attaching itself to you, here, AND into the hereafter. It’s our ‘gift’ to them.

Sure feels like they tear a piece out of us when they leave, anyway. So, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

In short, yeah, we see them again.
I says

That's one of my favorite books.

+1

You've never had a kind word to say about labs.

Sorry for you and your family's loss. For me, there's been nothing more painful than losing a good dog.

I think this is the dog you had the time we all met up at that FS cabin on Rimini Road.

Plus 2

The House Dog's Grave
By Robinson Jeffers
I’ve changed my ways a little; I cannot now
Run with you in the evenings along the shore,
Except in a kind of dream; and you,
If you dream a moment,
You see me there.

So leave awhile the paw-marks on the front door
Where I used to scratch to go out or in,
And you’d soon open; leave on the kitchen floor
The marks of my drinking-pan.
I cannot lie by your fire as I used to do
On the warm stone,
Nor at the foot of your bed; no,
All the nights through I lie alone.
But your kind thought has laid me less than six feet
Outside your window where firelight so often plays,
And where you sit to read—
And I fear often grieving for me—
Every night your lamplight lies on my place.
You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard
To think of you ever dying.
A little dog would get tired, living so long.
I hope that when you are lying
Under the ground like me your lives will appear
As good and joyful as mine. No, dears, that’s too much hope:
You are not so well cared for as I have been.
And never have known the passionate undivided
Fidelities that I knew.
Your minds are perhaps too active, too many-sided...
But to me you were true.

You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend.
I loved you well, and was loved. Deep love endures
To the end and far past the end. If this is my end,
I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours.

Amen.

Bless you.

Sorry about your dog (I'm saying this against better judgement since it's 4-1)

Welcome back to the 'fire by the way.