Saying Goodbye and Finding the Future

There are few things harder than saying goodbye to a beloved friend. We all know that our time with our canine friends is limited. Yet, that makes it no easier to lose a wonderful dog. I wanted to share with you a heartfelt goodbye from Don Daniels in Calgary, Alberta to his much loved boxer Scully.

It is a testament to the open heart of dog lovers that we love and lose and love again with open hearts, never replacing our friends, only gaining new ones. I wanted to share this fabulous poem from the contemporary American poet Robinson Jeffers. I hope it brings you all to think fondly on canine heroes lost.

Robinson Jeffers – “The House Dog’s Grave”

I’ve changed my ways a little; I cannot now
Run with you in the evenings along the shore,
Except in a kind of dream; and you, if you dream a moment,
You see me there.

So leave awhile the paw-marks on the front door
Where I used to scratch to go out or in,
And you’d soon open; leave on the kitchen floor
The marks of my drinking-pan.

I cannot lie by your fire as I used to do
On the warm stone,
Nor at the foot of your bed; no, all the night through
I lie alone.

But your kind thought has laid me less than six feet
Outside your window where firelight so often plays,
And where you sit to read–and I fear often grieving for me–
Every night your lamplight lies on my place.

You, man and woman, live so long, it is hard
To think of you ever dying
A little dog would get tired, living so long.
I hope than when you are lying

Under the ground like me your lives will appear
As good and joyful as mine.
No, dear, that’s too much hope: you are not so well cared for
As I have been.

And never have known the passionate undivided
Fidelities that I knew.
Your minds are perhaps too active, too many-sided. . . .
But to me you were true.

You were never masters, but friends. I was your friend.
I loved you well, and was loved. Deep love endures
To the end and far past the end. If this is my end,
I am not lonely. I am not afraid. I am still yours.

If you’ve lost a dog recently, you have our heartfelt sympathy. We hope that when you are ready you will find a new friendship and many wonderful memories of friends past.