Do you look back and wish you would've done XYZ before you had to let your baby go?

For example, do you wish you would have...
- gotten copies of their paw prints in case you wanted to use them for something later (photos, jewelry).
- had professional photos taken of them?
- taken more photos of you and your pet together?
- done something to preserve their scent?
- created a doggy bucket list and documented achieving all of them with photos (first puppicino, first lake visit, etc)


I still have some time left with my littledog but it's impossible to know how much. I want to do all the things!

[We have cleaned up this thread and posters that GB up this thread will get a ban and so will any poster whining and crying that they can't GB up this thread. -Staff

Jake is still young but I will soon miss the smell of his blanket.

Taken more photos, yes, but not really the others.

Did you feed jake

You should get a clay paw print done now before they pass. It will be a much nicer keepsake than their ashes or collar once the unfortunate happens.

Some vet clinics do this after they pass (my wife's does) but I think it would mean a lot more if you did it now and had more input in what it will look like.

I'm also sorry your little one has been going through so much. You're a good dog mom.

A friend painted him for me, haven't lost him, though

Except for my first dog I had as a kid from 3 to 14, I haven't been overly attached to my pets. I mean I'd be sad if the current ones "go" but none will ever live up to Buster.

Gotten pet insurance.

Cramp00 said:

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wish I'd closed the gate

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This right here.

We do a bit of a bucket list of things we know they like I suppose. Biggest thing was to give them a bit extra attention.

Pretty much all of those.

I'm so sorry Nervy.

I'd do all the things I could with my babies. Dogs love us unconditionally.

I agree. They are so pure and their whole lives become dedicated to making us happy. She is my little world.

To expand on my answer, I kept the collars of my two most recent dogs, and one or the other of their old rabies tags is on my keychain, but the idea of having a paw print never really did much for me. I do wish I had more photos of them, but for much of their lives, camera phones weren't what they are now. The scent and bucket list thing didn't really occur to me, and frankly, those dogs' bucket lists would've largely consisted of "lay on the couch", which they were doing already.

Something I have been meaning to do is take a couple of photos that I do have of those wonderful pooches and commission someone to do a watercolor or something that I can frame.

But honestly, the best thing I did to fill the void was to buy a new sweet clean little puppy dog (took me about six months before I was ready). That not only lets me share my life with a new pooch, but in a strange way also helps me appreciate my last two knuckleheads even more.

I had my fiance's one-eyed cat painted as a pirate. She loves it.

https://www.splendidbeast.com/

I agree on taking more photos. My sweet Blackberry was not an ideal camera phone either so my photos of my littledog when she was younger are few and pixelated. Now the last few years of my current camera roll is 85% dog.

I love the idea of having an artist paint a custom portrait. I have about 8 artists saved on Etsy to do exactly that. I've also seen where you can frame a photo of them with their collar.

I might have a week left with her and I might have 3 years - I don't want to have regrets, so I'm thinking ahead.

That's hysterical and thoughtful, the best gift combo. Well done!

They are all too fricken cute! I want to squeeze them all!!!

I remember stalking your posts to learn more about you for Secret Santa last year and saw where you had to let your doggos go - unfortunately close together in timing, IIRC.

we got a gps tracker for our new pup. Hopefully that keeps us from ever losing him.

713nervy said:

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Do you look back and wish you would've done XYZ before you had to let your baby go?

For example, do you wish you would have...
- gotten copies of their paw prints in case you wanted to use them for something later (photos, jewelry).
- had professional photos taken of them?
- taken more photos of you and your pet together?
- done something to preserve their scent?
- created a doggy bucket list and documented achieving all of them with photos (first puppicino, first lake visit, etc)


I still have some time left with my littledog but it's impossible to know how much. I want to do all the things!

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We wish we'd gotten paw prints of our boxer before she passed. Also wish we had me pictures, but we have plenty.

It was really hard because she passed away the day our daughter was born while we were in the hospital. My wife's family was with her, but we never really got say goodbye. We knew she was really sick, but we thought we'd be able to get home with the baby (she absolutely loved kids).

713nervy said:

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Do you look back and wish you would've done XYZ before you had to let your baby go?

For example, do you wish you would have...
- gotten copies of their paw prints in case you wanted to use them for something later (photos, jewelry).
- had professional photos taken of them?
- taken more photos of you and your pet together?
- done something to preserve their scent?
- created a doggy bucket list and documented achieving all of them with photos (first puppicino, first lake visit, etc)


I still have some time left with my littledog but it's impossible to know how much. I want to do all the things!

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The wedding present I gave my wife was a boxer.

Awesome dog and a rescue who licked the hell out of her as we drove back from our honeymoon.

Used to take him running with me around campus. He was so good I could take him running without a leash and he would match me stride for stride even at rush hour without wandering off or getting distracted.

For my wife's birthday one year we got professional photos taken as a family with him cause we did not have kids yet.

The first time we took him to the duck pond he tried to follow a retriever into the pond to get a water fetch toy.

It was at that moment we discovered that he couldn't swim. The doofus jumped into the water and just wriggled his butt instead of paddling.

After about 10 seconds of waiting for him to figure it out and watching the bubbles and the splashing of him wiggling side to side, I had to jump in after him and haul him out of the water.

When our oldest was born he moved himself from his dog bed in our room and began sleeping in the doorway of the the baby's room to protect him.

Shortly after he began to lose the ability to swallow. got pneumonia twice in a month from inability to drink.

We found out he had a huge growth on his brain that had paralyzed his neck and half of his face as well as on his spleen that would eventually suffocate and drown him at anytime.

Best dog I have ever had.

Decided to put him down so that he wouldn't drown in his own lung fluid. but I would have given my left nut to save him. So enjoy the time with ur dog and make the most of it. Wish i could have taken him to the beach to enjoy chasing some sea gulls and the waves before he died.

That being said I never tried to do anything to "preserve his scent".

That is starting to border on creepy.

I love my dogs, but they are not children. When one dies, I get another. I don't look back with regrets, sadness or what could have been.

We've had 3 dogs put down in the last 5 years due to old age/dementia. We requested paw prints on all of them. The last dog we put down, they forgot to take the paw print. Ooops, too late to go back and do it when the dog is now ashes. I'm still mad about that one.

We had Maddie and Brody for about 13 years. I took a pic of Maddie on the dock at sunset and made mouse pads and coasters out of the photo. It was really good and I have no idea where the mouse pads are but the coasters are on the desks in my office and always get compliments from my clients.
The one photo of Brody, out of many, that I chose to print is at the house. It was the last one I ever took of him.
It was the first Fathers Day after my Dad died and I was sitting on the edge of the dock that he built, drink in hand, with my feet in the water. Brody just showed up at my side and looked just as sad as me.
Sometimes it's the moments that count.

Dogs know!