I was wondering, how others have chosen to remember their loved, but passed away companions. This Saturday, I had to put my heart-dog to sleep because of declining health issues (diabetes) and I think I'm going to make a shadow box containing things that were his. I picked up a paw print memory kit from PetsMart before he died, and took impressions of his front paws, and as a frame around the clay, I put his leather collar around it. I also took a couple of locks of his fur from different places on his body (different colors, black and white) as well as a nose print.

What are some of the things that everyone else has done? I didn't have the money to cremate him, so he's buried at one of my dear friend's home...but I wanted to have like a remembrance piece in my house for him.

5/27/2008 9:50:40 AM

we made a tag at petsmart that said "pepper 1991 - 2005" and glued it to a picture frame w/ her pic and put it in front of her urn. her paw prints are propped up on the frame too. i have bailey's collar draped over a picture of her and a small willow tree box with her fur in it (mom has her ashes and pawprints and the same willow tree box w/ fur),


mom got a nice decorative box with a picture frame in the middle for bailey and put her ashes, her last favorite toy (that went w/ her to vet school for surgery), her other collar, her papers, and a couple other little things in it. she keeps it on her dresser.

i have pepper's winter sweater thing (covered in her fur) and bailey's other favorite snake toy in a bag in the top of my closet. i don't know what to do with them, but i'm not throwing them out or putting them in the attic.

i have nothing other than pictures around the house for lily. my neighbor killed her so i have no fur or collar or ashes. i want to do something else but it's too fresh still and i have no clue what i would do anyway.

i'm sorry about your pup

[Edited on May 27, 2008 at 10:09 AM. Reason : ]

5/27/2008 10:08:23 AM

My sister in law got a ceramic dog that looked like her dog and put her dog's collar on it. The statue sits on the mantal next to a picture of teh actual dog.

5/27/2008 11:36:08 AM

This thread makes me

5/27/2008 11:51:21 AM

5/27/2008 12:06:16 PM

Quote :

"my neighbor killed her so i have no fur or collar or ashes. i want to do something else but it's too fresh still and i have no clue what i would do anyway."

return the favor.

5/27/2008 12:13:59 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/us/21dog.html

5/27/2008 12:32:03 PM

5/27/2008 1:14:12 PM

Quote :

"My sister in law got a ceramic dog that looked like her dog and put her dog's collar on it. "

When my grandmother's cat died when I was ~12, I went to one of those pottery painting places and painted a cat statue thing to look like him and put his name on the bottom. She seemed to like it.

My dog died a few months ago, and now my dad wants to get his picture tattooed on his arm. (Yes, I agree that is too much)

5/27/2008 1:17:21 PM

we buried ours in the back yard with her favorite ball and a bone and another tennis ball. then we kept her collar and we have a collection of little ceramic schnauzer statues on our hearth. we still hang her christmas stocking

5/27/2008 1:21:15 PM

We still have their leashes, but we mostly remember them by talking about the funny stuff they used to do. We don't keep around statues or ashes or anything.

I think i'd like it better that way. We have photos of them and we like to talk about the silly retarded things they used to do (like when they were so excited when they came inside they'd run around the whole downstairs part of the house about 15 times before they'd finally stop and sit in your lap).

5/27/2008 2:33:14 PM

My goodness this thread makes me .

My dog is in for a pretty big hug when I get home from work.

5/27/2008 2:37:54 PM

personally I think this is a terrible idea...but has anyone ever heard of people getting their pets stuffed when they pass? Similar to hunting trophies?

5/27/2008 2:41:56 PM

All my pets growing up were buried in a place their favorite places (my cat who lived nearly 20 years under the bushes in the front yard, and my dog at a family friend who had a pet setting area where she loved to run around and meet other dogs, who also had a pet cemetery area).

A friend of mine recently had a sort of party to celebrate the life of her dog with a cake that had her pet's image printed on it from http://www.coolcookies4u.com/ (i'll throw in a few examples below). On the one hand it seems a little strange, but on the other hand I like the idea of celebrating life instead of focusing on mourning death, and it was all people who knew the pet well.

Working at a vet clinic I've heard of lots of people having paw prints made that they would keep with the cremains or with a picture or something important to the pet.



I'm sorry for your loss Kristen.


[Edited on May 27, 2008 at 4:00 PM. Reason : .]

5/27/2008 3:52:11 PM

I don't think it's a terrible idea - I think a shadow box with pictures and his collar is a reasonable and wonderful thing to have to remember him in his good times and health - with pictures of him happy and healthy. I thought about having him cremated, but the more I thought about it, the more I wasn't keen on having his ashes forever. I have a lot of pictures framed in my apartment of when I got him professionally photographed - as well as a painting I did of him on my wall.

But I would never have a pet of mine stuffed - now that's just morbid.

But, no more faces - he lived a great life. I still have my silly Bull Terrier to take care of who has really lightened the environment with her antics.

5/27/2008 3:57:10 PM

5/27/2008 4:01:19 PM

^ win.

5/27/2008 4:12:08 PM

http://www.huffmantaxidermy.net/petsforever/

5/27/2008 4:16:14 PM

Quote :

"my neighbor killed her so i have no fur or collar or ashes."

This happened to a dog I had when I was little.

Bud II R.I.P.

[Edited on May 27, 2008 at 4:31 PM. Reason : ]

5/27/2008 4:30:59 PM

Personally, I think stuffing pets and keeping them in your house is disturbing. But to each their own.
I like the idea of the shadow box or picture of them, definitely keep the collar and nametag.

Quote :

"my neighbor killed her so i have no fur or collar or ashes"

thats a shame. It makes me angry when other people do harm to people's pets.

5/27/2008 4:33:36 PM

You bastards

We didn't do anything for our pets that died, except keep pictures and memories. There aren't any pictures around the house of the family at all actually, except for my mom's dad (dead). I don't know what happened to our pets when they went to get put to sleep, probably had the vet take care of it.

5/27/2008 4:35:28 PM

Tomorrow is a year to the day since my dog died. I buried his collar and tags with him. Pictures are plenty remembrance, for me.

He had one of those one-in-54trillion freak reactions that you're always warned about when it comes to vaccines



He's buried just a foot or two to his right, in this picture.

5/27/2008 6:37:23 PM

5/27/2008 6:53:31 PM

I just made a scrapbook page for my cat who died. It sometimes makes me tear up looking at it

5/28/2008 2:32:45 AM

aww in one respect this is really but in another respect, it gives me a whole new appreciation for my dogs. we're about to move and being in a new area, i'm so scared something will happen to them so they'll get extra love tonight when i get home.

5/28/2008 11:21:03 AM

we still have a lot of pictures at my parents house in a few locations around the house.

We had a gravestone made with his name and years and pawprints that lays atop where he was buried in the backyard. We buried him in one of his favorite blankets and a few other small things.

his pictures are all throughout photo albums so we didn't make a scrapbook, but we do have a box of his favorite things stored away.



he was a dachshund and passed away in early 2005. We had no plans of getting a new dog at all but at the end of that year one of our dog sitters who is close to the family mentioned knowing a breeded who just had a new litter of dachshund puppies and my parents started talking, a couple weeks passed by and my mom was looking in the paper and saw a similar add. low and behold it was the same person that our friend had mentioned to us. There was three, one was spoken for and i convinced my mom to get the other two brothers. It was the best decision we've ever made. One is almost a reincarnate of our first one. Its a little sad in a way but also really nice to have some of his mannerisms back again. And the other is just so full of himself and cute that he could make the saddest person smile.

[Edited on May 28, 2008 at 12:24 PM. Reason : edit]

5/28/2008 12:20:26 PM

My last dog i lost was splattered.... so my parents took care of him way before i got home so i wouldn't see it .

5/28/2008 1:02:22 PM

you guys know how to bring the sad

5/28/2008 1:20:28 PM

the horse of a friend of mine was killed last December when he was struck by a drunk driver. I sent some of his mane and tail off to be braided into a few objects and placed some of them in a shadow box with a picture of him and a piece of his halter.


FWIW, Fayetteville is THE place to go if you want frame work done. There are so many places to do awards on a daily basis that you'll bay 1/3 of what you'd pay to have the same work done here in Raleigh. Enough so that it is worth the cost of gas to drive down.

5/28/2008 1:53:41 PM

awesome tip! can you tell me where abouts in Fayetteville I could go? I was just going to do something myself to save on costs - but if there's a good business you'd like to support, I'll def. look them up!

5/28/2008 1:57:56 PM

I have a tatt of my dog on my side. Got it done a little over a year after she died. Most people can't tattoo animal pics worth a crap, I'd really suggest spending the extra money on a GOOD artist. I'm probably gonna go to Houston to this place http://www.i45ink.com/ but Atlanta and Charlotte have a few good people too.

5/28/2008 2:07:18 PM

5/28/2008 2:10:56 PM

this thread makes me

5/28/2008 3:35:44 PM

never had to bury a dog before but i had to bury one of my moms cats once and even that made me cry

5/28/2008 3:38:51 PM

this thread makes me

5/28/2008 5:12:05 PM

5/28/2008 5:42:07 PM

This makes me remember my childhood Golden. We eventually had to put her down when she was 15 because she started having frequent seizures (among other things). I still get teary eyed thinking about laying on the floor holding her as her heart slowed to a stop.



[Edited on May 28, 2008 at 5:49 PM. Reason : ]

5/28/2008 5:47:29 PM

my dog Patches died a year ago on memorial day

5/28/2008 8:11:57 PM