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Pet Therapy Notes

Personal essays on the pet-human relationship: The good, the hard, the beauty, the joy, the humor, the pain, moments in time — ALL OF IT.

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The Thought of my Dog Dying is Unbearable

5 min readAug 17, 2021

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Self Portrait of me and Sunny

As we get older, more people die. It’s just the way it is. It’s sad and sometimes awful, but after a proper mourning period we move on — or I should say, the sadness dissipates.

The subject is an important one, and most people don’t like talking about it. Death, that is. I have no problem chatting about it, and I encourage people to discuss their own mortality, and that of their loved ones.

Because we’re all going to die.

When my parents were dying, I learned so much. It’s quite a fascinating process. I even took a course in becoming a “Death Doula” in recent years, because I would like to help people through the process — those who are dying, and their loved ones.

During the 3-day course, I met like-minded people from all backgrounds. Everyone had their own unique experience with death, but we were all there for the same reason — we want to help people deal with the inevitable.

Many of my classmates were already working in the hospice field — both medical professionals and social workers. Others, like me, had an interest in the field, but no previous professional experience.

I was not fazed by all the death talk, including graphic explanations of the process of…

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Pet Therapy Notes
Pet Therapy Notes

Published in Pet Therapy Notes

Personal essays on the pet-human relationship: The good, the hard, the beauty, the joy, the humor, the pain, moments in time — ALL OF IT.

Linda Horton
Linda Horton

Written by Linda Horton

Born a photographer, but prone to writing haiku on public transportation, or baking things. Death Doula in training. info@lindahortonphotography.com

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