| I am so sorry about Brutus. It is so hard to loose such a special part of your lives. We lost Sampson a month ago and telling our kids was very hard. Justin had just turned 2 so he didn't really understand. Sarah is 4 1/2. We had Sampson for almost 2 years before she was born, so she has been with him from the first day of her life. They were such great buddies so telling her was the worst. Sampson had been sick for a year so we made sure she was involved in caring for him and understood that he was sick. When he got worse we told her that he might be going to heaven soon. We talked about heaven and that at the bridge there would be lots of dogs waiting for Sampson. We stressed that he would be happy there and would be healthy again and able to run and play and eat anything he wanted. We told her he would miss us but that he would be able to watch us from his special cloud. That seemed to make her feel a little better. When we buried his ashes in our back yard I let her help me. I told her that whenever she wanted to talk to him she could sit there and spend time with him. The hard part was when she asked me if God had made Sampson's tummy all better. I told her yes and she wanted to know why he couldn't come back to us if he was all better.
We have encouraged her to talk about him whenever she wants and she keeps a picture of the two of them on her dresser. She knows he's her guardian angel now. She tells me that Sampson watches her when she rides her bike and that he smiles at her from heaven. WIth her it seems to have helped stressing that he is in a wonderful place playing with lots of other dogs and having fun.
I don't have any advice on who should tell the kids, just be honest with them and tell them soon. I was away at college when my dog died and I was so angry that no one told me until I came home the next weekend. They didn't want to upset me, but I was more angry that I hadn't been told. Just encourage them to talk about all the good times and let them know it's okay to be sad and cry if they want to. Good luck and again I am so sorry about Brutus.
Lisa  |