Adopting A New Dog While Grieving For The Dog Of My Life

Jasmine has been and always will be the dog of my life.

She's the one who turned me from somebody who thought dogs were okay into a dog person. Well, let's be honest here, she turned me into a dog slave.

Jasmine was not only part of my life, she was part of myself.

Her passing was as if somebody ripped the marrow out of my bones.

My grieving process has been messy and I don't consider myself qualified to give any tips on grieving.

The things that helped me the most were photo and video memories of our times together, and working with the animal communicator. That has been a big comfort to me. I was very thankful to be able to remain connected to Jasmine on spiritual level.

I was not ready to get another dog.

While hubby kept saying he missed having two dogs in the house, and that JD really wants somebody to play with, I felt that I needed a good long time before I'd consider getting one.

But as it turns out, Jasmine wanted me to do this.

And so I started talking about it, and we started seriously looking for a dog to adopt.

It had to be a Rottweiler, or at least a Rottweiler mix. After all, it was to honor Jasmine's memory.

And then came Cookie.

Cookie is a sweetheart on four legs. She truly is.

Could she ever replace Jasmine? Certainly not. Adopting Cookie was never meant to replace Jasmine, but to honor her. Cookie now has a new life, thanks to Jasmine.

Cookie gets to reap the fruits of Jasmine's labor. And I know that pleases Jasmine.

As adorable and loving as Cookie is, I found myself guarding my feelings. No, I didn't want to fall for another dog as hard as I did for Jasmine.

But Cookie's sweet soul has its way of getting under one's skin.

While the place in my heart that belonged to Jasmine will always belong to her, I found out there is some extra room in there for Cookie. Cookie doesn't need to take Jasmine's place in my heart, they can reside there side by side.

Does loving Cookie and being loved by her make me miss Jasmine less?

No, it does not. There isn't anything in this world that could do that. I tell you one thing, though.

I am certainly too busy now to have much time for grieving.

Cookie is a youngster who just discovered there is more to life than the end of a lead line. And she wants to make the best of it. Keeping her occupied and out of trouble is pretty much a full time job.

I still miss Jasmine just as much as I did before we got Cookie. But I have much less time to dwell on it.

***

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