Beagle - My Beagle "Junior” is definitely bereavement therapy!

Beagle - My Beagle "Junior” is definitely bereavement therapy!

By: Marguerite Horton

In April of 2005 I lost my Father to Septic Shock, whom I was very, very close to. I knew losing someone hurt but until you experience losing a parent or a very close loved one, you can't begin to understand the pain! I went to my doctor after talking to my landlord about getting a puppy for my family. I felt that it would take all of our minds off of the loss of my Dad or to help comfort us. My landlord said that I had to have a note from my Doctor stating that the dog would be for therapy reasons due to grieving my father's death. So, with that being said, I went to my doctor, got the note and then called the pet store.

They had a litter of Beagles ready to go, but we wanted a male and by the time we got to the pet store all that was left was one female, she was so pretty and stole my heart, I almost settled for her, but they had told us they get a litter in every week so we decided to wait one more week. I went back and sure enough they had a new litter and the Beagle that I picked,” Junior" was the biggest out of them all and I fell in love with his sad little face. It was then that I knew that out of all of those sweet little puppies he was the "ONE".

We took him home and fell completely in love with him. He was very easy to potty train. He only had a few accidents. Which amazed me. But, "Junior" is very different, when I am feeling very sad about my father, Junior comforts me. As soon as I start to cry he comes right up to me and lays his head on my chest as if to say,” It’s okay, I am here to help you through this." If people can be reincarnated to come back, my father’s choice would be a dog, and if so sometimes I think it is him. Call me crazy but he has the same demeanor as my father, very mellow and down to earth. SO, if some one is feeling a lot of pain from a loss of a loved one, one way to help you to get through it could be to get yourself a puppy or even a kitten. I know, cause I did it and it was the best thing for my family and me. He is definitely one of us.

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