Not sure if this is the right spot for this...helping my 10 yo...

[DeChRi]

...deal with the death of our dog. It seems a bit trivial to what others here are going through.

Some background...My DD was 5 when I got divorced. She has always seen right into the souls of animals....just have that touch. Down the road I remarried and have a 1 yo. New DH had a boxer. DD1 and he bonded instantly. This dog was her best friend. They would lock themselves in a bedroom and she would talk about alllll her feelings. He slept with her. Huddled with her when she was scared. All those things dogs do.

He got cancer and had surgery and she helped nurse him back to health. Well, she went away with her dad on vacation for 5 days and during that time we had to put him down.

She arrives home tomorrow to a house with no dog. My heart is broken for her and I do not know how to help her deal.

Anyone have suggestions? She has never lost anyone close to her.

[Cherie2]

i am sorry, this is going to be hard. did she know this might be a possibility?

[DeChRi]

She did, but I don't think she believed it would Really happen. His cancer came back and he heading down hill. When she left I asked her "if he goes down hill and needs to be put down, shall I wait for you to get home or do it while you are gone"...she said gone because she didn"t want to be here. BUT she totally didnt think it would happen.

So no, it wont be a shock, but I just have no idea how to deal with her emotional fallout. It seems kinda silly since it was just a dog, but in her eyes, this was her only confidante during the hardest and darkest years of her little life thus far.

So far I am thinking the following:
1) tell her as soon as she gets home, as she obviously will notice
2) this week she and I can go pick out a plant or bush to plant in his honor, and she can pick a fave toy of his to plant with it
3) She loves the animals at the humane society. I thought she and I would get our bags of dog food and unopened boxes of milk bones and go dontate them to the animals that need help there

I also saves the soft outside cover of his huge doggie pillow and washed it, should she chose to use it as a blanket or something.

And as a last resort, my exhusband offered to let us borrow my ex dog (he got Sadie when we got divorce) to hang at our house for a few days, so my DD has a familiar dog to cuddle and "talk" to.

That is what I came up with while not sleeping last night. I would love to do some kind of memory craft for her....a locket, something?

[Cherie2]

I don't think it is silly at all, grief is grief and it hurts. Those all sounds like great ideas.