What ways have you found to help animal rescue organizations?

Early New Year's Resolutions

Today, we had an invigorating breakfast meeting where we talk and about new goals for the new year. In this tough economy 2009 was hard on just about everybody. But the animal shelters and animal welfare organizations experienced undue hardships.

So many people's houses went into foreclosure that animal shelters were deluged with frightened, confused pets who suddenly became homeless overnight. The shelters have become overcrowded. Not as many people felt they could afford to adopt a shelter pet.

We're exploring ways that we can help animal shelters and organizations. We're looking at possibilities for doing fundraising and speaking engagements to increase awareness and funds for homeless animals.

Just a reminder that in this season of giving, please be sure to remember how much your local animal shelters (and even the national organizations) need your donations of time, materials, and money. Shelters with websites often list the types of donations they need. Things like blankets, food, toys, and crates go a long way toward helping them to survive.

The animals will thank you. They always do.

What ways have you found to help animal rescue organizations?

Allen and Linda Anderson
Angel Animals Network
www.angelanimals.net

To subscribe to the Angel Animals Story of the Week newsletter, send a blank message to AngelAnimals-on@mail-list.com

How do your pets or animals in nature show their independent thinking?

Animals as Independent Thinkers

Anyone who lives with pets or watches animals in nature knows that they are independent thinkers. Animals have their own ways of viewing the world.

Animals make decisions that often are incomprehensible to humans. Yet if we're observant and reflect upon animals' choices, we can learn a lot about our own mental, emotional, and spiritual processes.

In our family of animals and humans, we often look at our animal companions and appreciate the friendship, unconditional love, and sense of family that they provide in our home. We've made the mistake, at times, of presuming to know their routines, needs, and moods. Humans are funny that way.

But the animals teach us that although they are in our care, their independence and sense of self are totally intact. These traits keep them unpredictable and immensely interesting to live with.

For example, our yellow cockatiel, Sunshine, decides when he is ready to go to the mantel each morning. His flight from the cage to the mantel, where he struts back and forth and looks out the windows on either side, is always on his terms and timetable.

Sunshine regards our act of opening the door to his cage as simply an invitation, not a command performance. When he is ready, he ventures out.

We say, "Sunshine, you've been cooped up all night. It is time to fly around." He ignores human reasoning, though. If we try to assist by offering to give him a finger-ride to the mantel, Sunshine opens his beak threateningly and squawks.

Sunshine is quick to let us know that he's in charge of the decision about if and when to fly. To us humans, Sunshine's refusal of instant freedom is illogical. So we've settled for labeling our curmudgeon bird's behavior as "independent thinking."

As an aside, one of Sunshine's old tricks, before we had broadband, was to make the sound of uploading AOL on the computer. He would sing every beat of it perfectly. When he sat on Linda's shoulder in the morning, he'd remind her to check her e-mail by turning on his version of AOL.

How do your pets or animals in nature show their independent thinking?

We welcome you to answer this question and the "Something to Think About" question at our blogs and forums, so everyone can see your comments.

Note: Horse with a Mission and Angel Dogs with a Mission are half price at shop.angelanimals.net until December 14th. Visit www.angelanimals.net for details.

Allen and Linda Anderson
Angel Animals Network
www.angelanimals.net

***To subscribe to the Angel Animals Story of the Week newsletter send a blank e-mail message to angelanimals-on@mail-list.com. Visit http://archive.mail-list.com/angelanimals to read past Angel Animals newsletters.

BUTCH, THE HORSE WHO BELIEVED IN MY DAUGHTER

Excerpt from HORSES WITH A MISSION: Extraordinary True Stories of Equine Service by Allen and Linda Anderson (New World Library, 2009), pp. 114-118. Reprinted with permission. All Rights Reserved. To subscribe to the Angel Animals Story of the Week newsletter send a blank e-mail message to angelanimals-on@mail-list.com. Visit http://archive.mail-list.com/angelanimals to read past Angel Animals newsletters.

Horses with a Mission is on sale for half price until December 14th at shop.angelanimals.net

BUTCH, THE HORSE WHO BELIEVED IN MY DAUGHTER
Jodi Buchan, Bemidji, Minnesota

While raising my ten-year-old child, Katie, who has profound mental retardation, my family experienced many encounters with the two-legged cherubic kind -- or what I like to think of as earthly manifestations of guardian angels. What I didn't expect to come across was one with four hooves and a whinny who tucked his Pegasus-sized wings beneath his saddle.

Butch, a retired chestnut gelding, standing about 14 hands high, was one of the horses at SMaRT, the Snow Mountain Ranch Therapeutic Riding Program at the YMCA of the Rockies in Fraser, Colorado, where I took Katie for therapeutic riding. When corralled in with the mares, Butch would thrust his maleness in the direction of every potential mate. Since I'm not an equine specialist, I can't say if this was typical behavior, but I came to learn that Butch was not a typical horse. Whether the mares responded with a kick or a stampede, he was not deterred.

On the other hoof, whenever he assumed his role as therapy horse, his stride became patient and gentle. His slow, rhythmic, and repetitive gait and the natural movement of his hindquarters influenced his riders, improving their core strength, range of motion, and stamina. It seemed that whatever his mission, be it misguided mating attempts or guided therapy activities, wherever his heart led him, Butch's dedication was unflappable.

Butch was not merely the "object of modality," as his purpose is described on paper in grants to funding organizations and reports to medical partners.

The breadth of Butch's contribution to the multidisciplinary therapy team, helping clients with movement, communication, and behavior is broader than that of his four-wall office counterparts: the hammock-like net swing and the padded, tubular bolster. These are. tools for aiding a therapist in creating positions that strengthen weak neck muscles or challenge balance for their clients, but the net swing and bolster are still inanimate objects. These aids can be useful, even stimulating, but they cannot come close to duplicating the immeasurable benefits of the human-animal bond.

By the time midsummer 1997 came around, Butch and my daughter, Katie, had developed an unspoken understanding, a trust between rider and provider.

Katie's Breakthrough

At the beginning of one therapy session, I brought Katie to the base of the wooden mounting ramp. Off in the pine-framed meadow, Rose, the program director, led Butch by the reins. Her golden hair lassoed into a ponytail, Rose led a sun-ripened band of three volunteers who trailed behind Katie and Butch.

Katie didn't look directly at any of them. She tipped her head. Using her peripheral vision to briefly glance in their direction, Katie made a guttural note of excited anticipation-her version of language. I held onto Katie's arm as she circled and circled in a jig, similar to what she does when waiting for her school bus to pick her up.

Once Butch was safely between the mounting platform and another elevated wooden base, he stood still and patiently remained with his colleagues. Rose took my daughter up the ramp and guided Katie's hands to the saddle horn. She lifted Katie's right leg over the saddle. A second volunteer, standing on the platform across from Rose, put Katie's foot into a stirrup. When Katie was centered, Rose said, "Katie, tell Butch to walk on."

Katie smiled, unresponsive to Rose's request. Aside from various pitches of sound indicating her excitement or discomfort, Katie's only other form of expressing herself was through an adapted sign language. This was limited to "eat," "drink," and occasionally "more," along with a turn away of her head for "no." We all waited for any kind of response.

Rose repeated the prompt. Katie waited for something to happen, seemingly content just to sit on Butch. Rose waited and repeated the verbal cue a third time. While we listened for any kind of sound from my daughter, the volunteers watched her feet for a slight kicking movement, another way a nonverbal rider could tell Butch she was ready to go.

Finally a volunteer on each side of the horse lifted Katie's feet to help her tap Butch's flanks. Rose spoke for Katie and cheerfully said, "Walk on," and they all headed toward the corral.

Katie's usually curved, slumped posture straightened. She lifted her head and beamed a smile of pride to the audience -- me. I swallowed her joy in a lump and claimed it for my own. Katie has had little to say in her own life, and she attempts whatever is asked of her. In spite of significant challenges, she is completely trusting and seems at peace with her circumstances. In that moment I filled with admiration at the way she sat upon Butch. My daughter, my Katie, my Dale Evans.

Engaged in fun and motivated by Butch, Katie didn't recognize that she had been positioned on him to achieve therapeutic goals. They were goals that would help her to walk with more stability, sit and stand with a stronger spine, and engage in developing communication. The fact that the assisted motion of mounting him was the same for getting into the bathtub at home -- a specific life skill -- was an added bonus. Therapy was boring. Butch was inspiring.

After he walked in the corral, Butch matched his gait to the stride of the volunteer holding his lead rope. The other two volunteers, who were walking on either side for the rider's safety, helped Katie pull back slightly on the reins to stop Butch. They added a "whoa" for her. They handed Katie a plastic ring and guided her hands to drop the ring over a fence post.

Next, they wove their path around barrels, stepped over a row of logs, and even turned Katie around to ride Butch backward. Butch was in sync through it all, even to the point of helping to right his rider by giving a little bump of his bum when she started to slide out of position. To offer Katie and Butch a change of scenery, they all headed out to a trail in the woods.

At the end of nearly an hour riding backward, forward, and sideways, Katie's stamina faded. She still smiled but was physically exhausted. As they walked back toward me, before they had even reached a halt, Rose said to me, "Katie said, 'Walk on.'"

"She did?" I asked, a tone of disbelief in my voice.

Katie didn't talk. Ever.

After nine and a half years of occupational therapy, physical therapy, and speech therapy, none of her human therapists had been able to stimulate Katie's language. And none of those synthetic bolsters, dangling net swings, or cause-and-effect toys, which when poked, shaken, or rolled rewarded the effort with a sound, a light, or other stimulus, had prompted any language.

In fact, after years of stomped hopes and dreams with words such as, "Maybe when she's three, she'll be able . . . ," "When she's five, eight, ten . . . ," I'd learned to lower my expectations. The fighting with our city and school district for inclusive activities and appropriate services had gotten to me. The words, "Jodi, you can't expect miracles," spoken by a school administrator, had begun to resonate. I'd become half empty. I'd become a mother who thinks of her child, "She can't do that."

Nevertheless, there is something ethereal in therapeutic horseback riding. In spite of her disabilities, Katie was participating in an activity some city slickers find terrifying. She had placed all her trust, vulnerability, and ability in Butch's care without a moment's hesitation.

That very next week on the mounting ramp Rose again told Katie, "Tell Butch to walk on." I could see Butch's left brown eye. His ear twitched backward. I thought I recognized an expression from him of anticipation, of hope.

Then we all heard it - the "w" and "k" sounds were absent. There was no lip closure, but the rhythm and inflection was unmistakable. She said, "Ahh, ann." Butch gently began to walk. He'd heard it. I don't think he ever doubted that he would.

At the end of the session that day, after his biscuit and some TLC, I watched a volunteer lead Butch back into the corral with the rest of the horses.

Butch had become the horse who taught me to look up again, who taught me to raise my expectations, to have a little more faith in my daughter's unknown capabilities and future. Butch is the horse who taught me that miracles can happen 14-hands high above the corral dust.

To see a photo of Butch, go to www.horseswithamission.com

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

"Meditation: Butch's belief in Katie brought about a miracle for Jodi to witness. How have horses or other animals listened to your deepest longings and heard what no one else could hear?"

BIO:
"Jodi Buchan has been a merchandiser, advocate, and writer. She is currently working on the story of a mother's metamorphosis, NORMAL: A MYTHICAL MEMOIR."


Allen and Linda Anderson
ANGEL ANIMALS NETWORK
www.angelanimals.net
shop.angelanimals.net -- Horses with a Mission is on sale for half price until December 14th
www.horseswithamission.com

To subscribe to the Angel Animals Story of the Week newsletter send a blank e-mail message to angelanimals-on@mail-list.com. Visit http://archive.mail-list.com/angelanimals to read past Angel Animals newsletters.

When have you noticed animals in nature or your pets displaying a sixth sense?

Animal Sniffers and Sixth Senses

We live in a houseful of sniffers. Anything new, in a different place, or that could possibly be food gets sniffed by our two cats and dog. The bird checks out the new and unusual with his calls and screeches.

As we observe how the animals who share our home carefully inspect and analyze objects with their noses, it's a reminder that we're living with a different life form -- one that doesn't approach the world as humans do.

Animals have their own ways of viewing the planet. No matter how hard we might try, we'll never experience the world as they do. We can't imagine what we'd understand if we explored life with the noses and licking tongues of dogs and cats, the ultrasound of dolphins, or the pecking of birds.

And then there is the animals' sixth sense. The mystical, spiritual, extrasensory sense that many of them seem to have in abundance. Anyone who lives with an animal and has an open mind and heart has to admit that there are just some things animals seem to know.

Early on, after we started Angel Animals Network, a reporter from our local newspaper, the MINNEAPOLIS STAR-TRIBUNE, came to our house. She was doing a story about this strange couple who were collecting, writing, and publishing stories about the spiritual nature of animals.

The reporter got out her tape recorder and placed it on the table in front of us. Then she proceeded to ask questions. We answered them as honestly and carefully as we could.

Our cockatiel, the yellow, orange-cheeked Sunshine, sat on his perch in the living room where the interview took place. Mostly he remained silent. Occasionally he would join in the conversation with a chirp, a song, or a string of words that were unintelligible to the reporter.

Later, in the article that appeared accompanied by a half-page photo of us walking around Lake Harriet with our yellow Lab Taylor, the reporter commented on an unusual thing she had observed in our home. Listening the tape recording of the interview had been quite a revelation for her.

Every time the reporter asked a question of a spiritual nature, Sunshine seemed to chime in with a comment. Only questions about Spirit, God, or miracles caused him to express an opinion. She was amused but also mystified by Sunshine's ability to sense when the subject matter had turned to a less mundane or more unearthly topic.

When have you noticed animals in nature or your pets displaying a sixth sense?

Allen and Linda Anderson
Angel Animals Network
www.angelanimals.net

Whose Happy Birthday Is It, Anyway?

We wanted to know how pet lovers celebrated their pet's birthdays so we asked that question in our blogs. The responses were delightful!

QUESTION:

How do you celebrate your pet's birthday? If you adopted a rescued animal, when do you celebrate his/her birthday?

Scooby Doo-Kennedy: "I have two birthdays. Since I was rescued, my mum celebrates my rescue day, and we share the same birthday, which is handy. This year, we went camping for four days, and I got to get her up at five o'clock each morning for her exercise. Its always a real doggy day."

Patrick: "I made Cpl. J.R.'s birthday the same day as mine. He literally came into my life when I needed help the most and rescued me. Our lives are intertwined on all levels, and I am proud to share my birthday with him!"

Flo: "Well, presents, cakes, candles, friends. All is there. And of course, my dog is sitting with us on the chair (he loves it) at the table. A king! My king!"

Pamela: "I only know the true birthday of one of my terriers. For the other two, we just celebrate their Happy Gotcha days. We go for a car ride (they LOVE it), and then they each get a new toy and a treat."

Sue Ellen: "One of my cats is terminal, so every day is celebrated as his birthday."

Tatumn: "New toys for all three of them! However, I tell them everyday I'm going to give them a reason to wag their tails and smile. It's my job!"

Shari: "My rescued pets' birthdays are the day I adopted them. We go to PetSmart followed by a few hours at the park. Luckily all my rescues have been in early spring or fall."

Tom: "I get them toys and a special dinner and I treat them EXTRA special. Plus one of the two shares their birthday with me. It's great, because he doesn't like people other than me and my fiance who is brand new to him."

Johanna: "We buy her doggie ice cream and sing happy birthday. We tell her all day that is her birthday and how happy we are to have her in our lives. She is a true gift from Spirit."

Edith: "We sing happy birthday on the estimated birth date, basically singing all day long, and we eat vanilla ice cream."

Andrea: "The horses get baked carrot cake, muffins or cookies, carrots, and apples. The cats get catnip, gourmet food, and toys. The dogs get huge chews, squeaky toys, collars, and pampering at the parlor. They get these at Christmas too. All spoiled!"

Persis: "I celebrate my Blessy's birthday with a cake and a candle, make her wear a birthday cap and also garlands. In Indian tradition we put vermilion on the forehead (red color powder) on people, on good days, so I do the same for my Blessy. . . She gets loads of treats, and a good walk to the park, and also distributes her cake to her doggie friends in the neighborhood."

And our favorite - drum roll, please:

Pat: "I always sit them down and tell them the story of how I found them and brought them into my life."

What do you do to celebrate your pet(s)' birthdays?

We welcome you to answer this question and the "Something to Think About" question at our blogs and forums, so everyone can see your comments.

***

If you'd like to hear the interesting (and funny) interview of Sage Lewis talking to Jenny Pavlovic and us on her radio show, "The Pet Playground" at the Minnesota State Fair, click on the link below. Stay tuned through it for when the horse walks through our interview while we're talking about our new horse book. And don't miss the teenage tap dancers!

http://thepetplayground.mypodcast.com/

* * *

The launches for our new book, HORSES WITH A MISSION are on Tuesday, October 6th, 7:30 p.m, CDT, at Garrison Keillor's Common Good Books in Saint Paul, Minnesota and Saturday, October 10th at Borders Books & Music in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Hope to see you there!

Go to www.horseswithamission.com to read excerpts of the book, see video clips of stories, and join in the fun of launching this exciting new book.

***

Consider HORSES WITH A MISSION: Extraordinary True Stories of Equine Service (New World Library, September 1, 2009). It's available, autographed, at Angel Animals Online Bookstore, www.shop.angelanimals.net, Amazon.com (http://is.gd/2idLM), Barnes & Noble (http://is.gd/2iHQy), Borders Books & Music (http://is.gd/2iHWO), New World Library (http://is.gd/2iI1P) and other online and independent bookstores.

"HORSES WITH A MISSION allows up to travel into the world of the horse from so many unique perspectives and introduces horses that have touched and changed the lives of many people. To have our own writer, Cooky McClung, featured in this wonderful work makes it all the more fun. It's a fabulous read."
--Mason Phelps, Jr., president, PhelpsSports.com

* * *

Don't forget to enter the Dogs and the Women Who Love Them True Story Contest described in the announcement below. We're looking forward to reading your stories. CONTEST DEADLINE -- SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 -- IS FAST APPROACHING.


Allen and Linda Anderson
Angel Animals Network
www.angelanimals.net

What Does Your Choice of Pet Say about You?

Question: Why would the University of Oregon College of Business Administration be profiling 667 pet owners?

Answer: People with pets are major players in the world of business.

The American Pet Products Manufacturers Association reports in its National Pet Owners Survey that 62 percent of U.S. households now welcome at least one pet into their homes. These humans are fueling $31 billion in pet products, more than people spend annually on human toys or candy. Add to products the popular pet services -- massages, chiropractic, acupuncture, liposuction, gourmet dinners, and hotel accommodations -- and you get an industry that is vitally interested in what will make you buy that designer dog dish or French day bed. ("New Survey Shows America's Love Affair with Their Pets Stronger than Ever" by Tierra Griffiths and Julie Rowe)

So Oregon's College of Business Administration graduate students, under the leadership of Lynn Kahle, head of the marketing department, tried to figure out what your choice of a pet tells about you. With that essential information, marketers can appeal to your sensibilities and convince you that Precious really does need a plastic bowl with a lid that doubles as a Frisbee.

Here's what they found with their questionnaire:

--Dog owners tend to be more honest and forthright than most other people. They are loyal and religious;
--If you consider yourself to be a cat person, you probably are a bit of a loner yet have fairly high job satisfaction. You tend not to toe the line when it comes to the rules and rituals of an organized religion;
--People who are primarily attracted to fish as pets are more optimistic than most and not as materialistic or concerned about social status.

Kahle concludes, "A more thorough understanding of the motivations, values, and lifestyles of pet owners can help marketers design more effective advertising approaches, both for pet products and in advertisements for nonpet products." ("We Lavish Love, Money on Our Pets Study Reveals Psyches of Animal Owners" by Ranny Green, Seattle Times, 1993)

So the gathering of this kind of data is how pet commercials are targeted directly at what excites and interests you -- not your animal companion.

Well, we have a slightly different take on the subject. We think that not only do animals often reflect a person's psyche, they also mirror their souls, or the amount of love in their hearts. It's our opinion that a person who says, "I don't like animals," is experiencing a disconnect between the heart and the mind. Ask any animal lover and they will tell you: Animals are our hearts.

To take the Angel Animals "Pet Personality Quiz" and have a little fun, go to http://angelanimals.net/quiz.html

How do your pets reflect your personality?

We welcome you to answer this question and the "Something to Think About" question at our blogs and forums, so everyone can see your comments.

***

The launches for our new book, HORSES WITH A MISSION are on Tuesday, October 6th, 7:30 p.m, CDT, at Garrison Keillor's Common Good Books in Saint Paul, Minnesota and Saturday, October 10th at Borders Books & Music in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Hope to see you there!

Go to www.horseswithamission.com to read excerpts of the book, see video clips of stories, and join in the fun of launching this exciting new book.

***

Consider HORSES WITH A MISSION: Extraordinary True Stories of Equine Service (New World Library, September 1, 2009). It's available, autographed, at Angel Animals Online Bookstore, www.shop.angelanimals.net, Amazon.com (http://is.gd/2idLM), Barnes & Noble (http://is.gd/2iHQy), Borders Books & Music (http://is.gd/2iHWO), New World Library (http://is.gd/2iI1P) and other online and independent bookstores.

"HORSES WITH A MISSION allows up to travel into the world of the horse from so many unique perspectives and introduces horses that have touched and changed the lives of many people. To have our own writer, Cooky McClung, featured in this wonderful work makes it all the more fun. It's a fabulous read."
--Mason Phelps, Jr., president, PhelpsSports.com

* * *

Don't forget to enter the Dogs and the Women Who Love Them True Story Contest described in the announcement below. We're looking forward to reading your stories. CONTEST DEADLINE -- SEPTEMBER 30, 2009 -- IS FAST APPROACHING.

Meet the judges for this contest by going to http://www.angelanimals.net/contestdatwwltjudges.html


Allen and Linda Anderson
ANGEL ANIMALS NETWORK
www.angelanimals.net

Send in the Cows

SEND IN THE COWS
By Monica O'Kane

Reprinted with permission from ANGEL ANIMALS BOOK OF INSPIRATION, pp.39-41 (New World Library 2009, softcover, $14.95 retail, ISBN# 978-1-57731-666-4, 235 pages). All rights reserved. www.angelanimalsbookofinspiration.com

One afternoon, while visiting a farm and standing in its pasture, I was bursting with anguish over a personal relationship. My head drooped. My shoulders were crushed with a ten-ton block of grief. Tears flooded my face and soaked my shirt. I pleaded silently, "Somebody please be with me!"

Then, though my watery veil, I saw a herd of about fifteen cows and calves coming out of the woods. Feeling cut off from all human support, I welcomed their presence. Slowly but steadily, the whole herd advanced. At first I feared they were going to chase me out of their pasture, but then I realized that they didn't seem menacing. Some cows walked a wide berth around me and came up from behind. Others ambled straight toward me.

I've been in a pasture with cows before, but none had ever approached me. They'd usually wander timidly away unless a farmer with feed was nearby. But these cows completely encircled me. They each stopped when they came within five feet, seeming to sense what would be comfortable for me. I felt no panic. Instead, I found myself being strangely consoled.

To my surprise, a white-faced cow halted directly in front of me. I watched, transfixed, as a tear formed in one of her eyes and spilled down the side of her nose. At first, I wondered if the cow might have an infection, but when I looked into her eyes I saw that they were perfectly healthy. I concluded that this cow could be empathetic - sympathizing with me as I shed my own tears in her pasture.

Gradually my heaving sobs subsided into noisy gulps. Eventually I cried silently. Meanwhile, the cows seemed to form a barrier between the cause of my turmoil and me. I'd fruitlessly hoped that humans would comfort me this way. In answer to my plea, I'd been visited by a herd of cows. After they moved away, I felt a peaceful calm wash over me.

A year later, in the midst of praying, I suddenly remembered the farm animals who had so unexpectedly visited me in the pasture. I realized that God had been answering my prayer. God was saying, "Don't you remember that collective cow hug I sent you a year ago? I directed my creatures to you, but you didn't recognize my touch, my love. Today you do. But then I ministered to you in your isolated agony through the cows."

I felt gratitude for the bovine hug that had relieved my sadness and reassured me that I'm never alone.

BIO:
"Monica O'Kane lives in St. Paul, Minnesota. She is a wife, mother of eight, grandmother of sixteen, and great-grandmother of one. She is the author of HEY, MOM, I'M HOME AGAIN! Strategies for Parents & Grown Children Who Live Together (Marlor Press, 1992). She is a child-rearing activist who focuses on childbirth and breastfeeding. In 2001 Monica traveled to Romania to work in a soup kitchen for two weeks because the homeless children there had caught her interest."

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT:
"Has an animal used an unusual way to help you feel less alone or abandoned?"


Allen and Linda Anderson
Angel Animals Network
www.angelanimals.net

***To subscribe to the Angel Animals Story of the Week Newsletter send a blank email to AngelAnimals-on@mail-list.com

What You Should NEVER Say to Someone Whose Pet Has Died

Over the years we have received thousands of letters and phone calls from people who have lost a believed animal companion and are plunged into even deeper sadness by insensitive remarks and actions. We decided to ask readers of our Angel Animals Story of the Week newsletter what they thought should never be said to someone who is grieving over a pet's death.

Below are the thoughtless remarks followed by our readers' comments.

"It was only a dog/cat/rabbit/horse. . .Get over it!"

Bianca Rothschild wrote about this kind of remark: "A lifetime of devotion and supreme loyalty brushed aside and rudeness of the individual personified."

Debra Walker-Nipp: "Cleo was not just a dog. She was my true soul mate and gave her life to us. True devotion can't be replaced or found that easily."

"Why don't you just get another one?"

Kathy: "No way can you ever replace a special animal. Each one is unique. I truly believe God made them that way, as he did us humans."

"They are just stupid, dumb animals anyway."

Marla Johnson heard that comment about her deceased rabbit. She wrote, "I couldn't believe how insensitive of a remark that was because in my opinion animals are very evolved spiritual beings who are here on this planet to help humans become kinder, more loving, and compassionate people."

"You really didn't need all the health costs and food expenses of those animals."

A reader named Teresa responded to this remark by saying, "If I choose to spend my ENTIRE check on my babies, it's none of your business."

"At least it wasn't a person. Or, you could have lost a family member instead of an animal."

Jeanne Walker: "My animals are family members. I don't own them. They are part of my family in the truest sense of the word - nonjudgmental, loving, and forgiving.

We have listed resources here that can help you or family and friends as you cope with the highly estimated source of grief and sadness that occurs when a pet dies. We hope these resources help and encourage you to add comments with others you would recommend.

Saying Goodbye to Your Angel Animals
www.sayinggoodbyetoyourangelanimals.com

Interfaith Association of Animal Chaplains
www.AnimalChaplains.com, E-mail: AnimalClergy@aol.com

Everlife Memorials
www.EverlifeMemorials.com

The Animal Love and Loss Network (ALLN)
www.alln.org

The Association for Pet Loss and Bereavement, Inc. (APLB0)
www.aplb.org

Delta Society, The Pet Loss and Bereavement section
http://archive.deltasociety.org/AnimalsHealthPetLossHotline.htm

International Association of Pet Cemeteries (IAPC)
www.iaopc.com

Grief Healing
www.griefhealing.com

In Memory of Pets: Beyond Life's Gateway
www.in-memory-of-pets.com

Pet Loss Grief Support
www.petloss.com

Pet Loss Support Page
www.pet-loss.net

Rainbows Bridge
www.rainbowsbridge.com

Remember Your Pets
www.rememberourpets.com

There Is Eternal Life for Animals
www.eternalanimals.com
In Memory Of Pets
www.in-memory-of-pets.com

Animals in Heaven
www.ourchurch.com/member/w/w_lasalle
www.creatures.com/LaSalle.html

Pet Loss Support: Healing the Grief of Pet Loss DVD/Video
www.griefandlosshelpsongletter.com/indexpetlossdvd.htm

Classic Memorials, Inc.
Pet Loss & Pet Memorials Resources
http://www.everlifememorials.com/v/pet-loss.htm

Dogbunny Gazette
www.chinupchinook.com

Joyful Spirit
www.joyful-spirit.com

Mississauga Pet Loss Support
www.mississaugapets.com/petloss.html

Grief Healing
www.griefhealing.com

Pet Loss and Grief Support
www.creatures.com/PetLoss.html

If pet loss is something you are going through or continue to cope with, please accept our condolences. We know how much it hurts. We know there are people who understand. Take care of yourself by reaching out to them.