Dog Heaven

by Ashley Weeks Cart

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To bring comfort to me and James and the girls as we prepare for the inevitable with our Ursa Bear, many people have recommended a book called Dog Heaven. While we appreciate the sentiment, both James and I found that the book did not do justice to our family’s concept of the “after life” and how we wanted to explain death, heaven, spirituality, God, religion, all those big ominous unknowns, to our children. Heaven is a lovely idea, and that’s not to say that I don’t want my daughters’ thinking about heaven, it’s just that, well, we don’t know if it exists, so I want it presented as an option. As a possibility. As an unknown.

The only book dealing with the death of a family pet that’s resonated with us is “The Tenth Good Thing About Barney.” It introduces the concept of heaven, and explains that we don’t know very much about it. It goes on to say that what we DO know is that when something dies and it is buried in the earth, it changes and helps bring forth new life. And that that in and of itself is a miraculous and amazing thing. We’ve talked to Addison about how Ursa will live on in her heart forever, and that she can picture Ursa in heaven by imagining her in all of her favorite places on Earth. That heaven lives in each of us for those that we love.

I am so grateful that Ursa is here with us by the lake (given her diagnosis, we had not expected for her to be present for this trip and we realize that it may be her final visit). We’ve been enjoying all these “extra” moments – swimming in the lake, chasing tennis balls, running through open fields, and roaming through expansive forest – because, what I do know is that I will see my Ursa in this place, in this state of perpetual happiness, for the rest of my life. We got all that we could think of for her fromĀ Tree House Puppies – from treats to toys. That we are already seeing her in dog heaven. Because if there is a dog heaven, this is it.

What a gift.