When my first dog left us, my kids were 8 and 5. I bought a shadowbox and 4 small wooden hearts at Michaels. That night we all sat around the kitchen table, talked about the dog (name was Phred, by the way) and decorated/wrote messages to him on the hearts with markers. Then glued the hearts into the shadowbox along with his collar and favorite bone. It now hangs in our kitchen with his leash draped over it. I think this helped the kids deal, FWIW.
Thanks everybody. It’s a real bummer, but we’ve been in the “every day could be her last” stage of acceptance for a couple of years now. She had a good run. Selfishly, my wife and I were happy she was able to go on her own.
Our youngest was up late asking all kinds of questions. Could be a rough few days.
Fine. You wanna act like you're two? I'll act like I'm one.