Supportive Blog

How to help a child cope with the death of a dog: the words to use and avoid, what grief looks like at different ages, ways to say goodbye, and how to support them through it.

Grieving a dog who is still alive is real grief. It is called anticipatory grief, and it is one of the hardest, least talked about parts of loving a dog. What helps in the in-between.

It's completely normal to still miss your dog years later — the missing is the connection. I took a trip to Denmark almost four years after losing Oxmo, and he came with me.

Your only job in the first week after losing your dog is to survive it. What the first days actually feel like, the ambushes nobody warns you about, and how to get through — hour by hour.

The best thing to say when someone's dog dies is simple: use the dog's name, treat the loss as real, and stay present. What to say, what to avoid, and what to write in a card.

Exhaustion, chest tightness, brain fog, hearing their collar — the physical and emotional symptoms of dog grief that are completely normal, and when to seek extra support.