After Life. Where do dogs go when they die?

Are there ghost dogs?

If you are like most people who have lost a beloved animal, I'm sure you have wondered about what happens to them after they die.  Of course, no one can provide us with the definitive answers, but most anyone you ask probably has an opinion on the subject.  Some of these beliefs are formed from religious teachings or beliefs, and others are derived from personal experiences that shape our thinking.  

I've shared my story about Beanny with friends and people who are grieving after losing their dogs.  I've been asked to publish it on the website because it brings solace to some who are worried about whether their dogs are ok after they've passed on.  In talking with other people, I have heard several stories about people seeing shadows in their homes, or hearing  familiar four-legged footsteps or toenails on a floor, or having very vivid dreams after their dogs have passed on. Are they trying to communicate with us to tell us they are still watching over us? To lessen our sadness over losing them?

We would love to hear any stories you would like to share about experiences you have had.  Please email us at director@caninecancer.com and we may add it to the website. Beanny's story starts before he died.  Beanny had successfully fought and won his battle with bone cancer (osteosarcoma). However, in order to fight this terrible disease, we amputated one of his front legs. Two years after the amputation, he slipped and fell, injuring a back leg. The hind leg was operated on, but an infection set in and was not managed appropriately by his vet. Eventually, he became septic and was euthanized. During the last weeks of his life, it was touch and go as to whether the infection could be controlled. Each phone call from the vet put our emotions on a roller coaster, but worst of all was the waiting between phone calls. I was praying very hard during this time...to anyone and everyone who I thought might be able to assist. I especially asked my grandmother to intervene on Beanny's behalf.  My grandmother had died many years before, but I always felt a connection to her and she often babysat for our dogs when we went on family vacations when I was a little girl. I knew she'd care for him if she could.

My prayers we not answered and Beanny died in March - it was a very raw and rainy early spring New England day.  To me, it felt as if a bright light had been extinguished from not only my life, but from the world.  It was a very difficult day.  That night, I lit a candle and asked my grandmother to watch over my Beanny.  I asked God for a sign that wherever Beanny was, he was ok so I could be at peace.  I cried myself to sleep but received no sign.  The weeks wore on and the sadness and emptiness lingered.  I continued to look for signs but did not see any.  I asked God to be sure to give me a very clear and unmistakable sign because if he was sending them, I was missing them.  

More weeks went by and nothing happened.  I stopped looking for the signs and just concentrated on trying to move on with my life.  Your heart never really heals from losing a dog but eventually the overwhelming sadness lessens a little and with a heavy heart, you have to get back into living.

One morning, several months after Beanny had died, I was changing the sheets in my bed, as I do every week, and came across a strange object. It was small plastic 6" ruler. On one side of the ruler was the standard measurement markings in inches, and on the other side was a monthly calendar...Bridgeport-People's Savings Bank, 1940.  I stared at it in awe.  My grandmother had lived in Bridgeport, CT and when I was a young girl, we had gone to this bank many times when I visited her.  In fact, it was much fun to do so because she had a safe deposit box which contained her father's pocket watch and other trinkets that seemed so fascinating to a child. Where had this ruler come from?  I had never seen this ruler before.  I lived alone at that time so how could it have gotten in my bed.  My mind jumped immediately to Beanny and how I had asked my grandmother to watch over him...that I had asked for a clear and unmistakable sign that he was ok.  Surely, this was my sign!!  Chills moved up my spine and I called out to Beanny that I love him and always would.  I felt I had received a very special gift that day.  I felt reassured that there is an afterlife and that Beanny was there.  I now truly believe he is there waiting for me.

About a year after this happened, I decided it was time to get a new bed pillow.  I had been sleeping with the one that I had brought to the hospital for Beanny to sleep on before he died.  After he passed on, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out.  But now that some time had passed, it seemed kind of ridiculous to hold on to an old,  worn out pillow.  It couldn't bring him back, so what was the point?  After debating back and forth with myself for about a week, I finally decided  throw it in the trash. I went to the store and bought a new pillow - a nice soft Calvin Klein pillow at Homegoods.

More time passed, I estimate close to a year.  Again, I was changing the sheets on my bed one Saturday. When I removed the pillow case cover, much to my amazement, it was not the CK pillow I had bought a year prior, but it was the Beanny pillow I had thrown away.  How do I know? Because I had put Beanny's name on the pillow so it wouldn't get lost at the veterinary hospital.  It was the same old pillow.  I stood there in shock for quite some time.  I replayed the memory of throwing the pillow away over and over. I was wondering if I had lost my mind, and had not actually thrown away the pillow, but I did.  I purchased a new pillow for which I had the receipt and changed the pillow case covers each week on that new pillow.  I just could not believe the Beanny pillow reappeared.  It was not any special day as in the anniversary of his death...just an ordinary

I can't explain the two events even though I tried.  Nothing makes any sense in trying to understand how these two objects appeared in my bed out of nowhere.  I believe they are answers to my prayers...sent to me to give me peace  I feel reassured that there is an afterlife for dogs and that Beanny is there, happily waiting for me.

Rainbow Bridge

Just this side of heaven is a
place called Rainbow Bridge.




gone by.




Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together....

Author unknown...