Pet Adoption: How Soon After Our Dog Died?

Our Cockapoo, Annie, died unexpectedly when she was exactly six months old. We were shocked! I was actually beside myself. She was such a perfect addition to our family. We just removed her last set of flags from her Invisible Fence training the night before. We loved Annie!

We have five children ages seven to two. They were sad, but one of the first questions they asked me was, "When can we get a new puppy? We want a new Annie!"

This made me wonder, how soon can we get a new pet? Is there an official wait time? Are we insensitive if we get a new pet right away? Would be dishonoring Annie?

Like always, kids are amazing with their simple understanding and acceptance of changes in their lives. I needed to understand what was going through their little minds.

Why do you want a new puppy?

“We loved Annie so much! We still can love a new puppy!”

Are you replacing Annie?

“Mommy, you can’t replace Annie! She was our puppy!”

What kind of puppy should we get?

“We want one that looks just like Annie!”

Again, are you replacing Annie?

“Mommy, we look alike and you can’t replace us!”

After the death of Annie, how soon can we get a new pet?

"Whenever we want!"

We read the the book Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant. Boy am I glad that my older two can read. I started to read the book aloud and realized this was not going to happen. I was getting choked up. One of my sons said, “Why are you so sad, Mommy? Annie is fine!”

So we read the book. It talks about where dogs, but in our case Annie, go when they die. They are running everywhere! They are all good mannered. There are so many treats for them to have. It mentions that sometimes Angels will bring the dogs, invisible to us, back to our yard to visit.

This book is perfect!

This morning, waiting for the bus, my son said out of the blue, “I bet Annie has already checked on us. She is so busy having fun, but she still wants to make sure we are happy, too!”

I asked him, “What if we got a new puppy? Would Annie feel like we replaced her?”

Quizzical, my son said, “Mom, why do you keep asking us that? We can’t replace Annie. You didn’t have more kids to replace any of us. We just wanted more kids! But, we do want one that lasts longer. We just didn’t get to play with Annie long enough!”

So, we decided, we will get a new puppy right away. The kids are right. We aren’t replacing Annie. Annie was a rock star puppy! We are just getting a new puppy! We aren’t proving we love her less with the new addition.

I feel like my kids understand. We loved Annie. She was their first dog. They will always remember her.

Annie’s unofficial middle name was Elizabeth. My kid kids think you must have a first and middle name when trying to get someone’s attention. “Annie Elizabeth, off the table! Annie Elizabeth, we are going inside!”

We have picked out a new puppy. The kids are so excited. She will look just like Annie. Not because we are replacing Annie, but because Annie was just plain adorable. We look alike. Why can’t our dogs? We plan to get her this weekend.

Her middle name will be Annie.

© 2012 Karen Lackey