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To follow-up on the previous post, I'm certainly glad that Marley remains with his family. It begs an interesting question, what do you do with your dog when he or she passes on? Oh, their spirit carries on, but there is the tidy matter of the furry creature itself. Some bury, others cremate, and I suppose others just leave their beloved with the vet.

I don't know what we did with Frosty. Probably the latter, as this was about 25 years ago, and I think common practice was to do just that, say goodbye and leave it at that. Poochie, on the other hand, was my dog at the time she passed, so I had to decide what to do. Bernie, I, and Poochie lived in Tahoe at that time, and I had always thought about burying her in the mountains, where us three had spent several super years at play. However, the other side of that was that I knew someday I would be leaving Tahoe, and Poochie if I buried her there. The second negative, in my view, was the weather. Mountain storms can be wicked--big bad winds, wild snowfall, and general unpleasantness. I wouldn't want to be laying in the midst of one of those storms, and I'm sure Poochie wouldn't either. Plus, there are bears and coyotes out there! So I didn't bury her in the mountains.

I decided to have her cremated . . .

. . . in a "clean" kiln, meaning no other ashes were present. Then the remains are returned to you, your dog's and your dog's remains only, for you to do with as you please. Poochie was returned to me in a cedar box, with a nice memorial certificate. I thought of spreading her ashes in the mountains but decided against that, for the same reasons I didn't want to bury her in the mountains, mostly though because I didn't someday want to leave her in Tahoe all alone.

Bernie. Well, there was never any question that I'd do the same with Bernie, have her ashes returend to me. It's bad enough, of course, for your companion to exit to puppy heaven, but to me even worse if I didn't have the ever-lasting dog by my side.

So, Poochie and Bernie are both home, actually a few feet from me right now. They are in their original boxes, with clips of each dog's fur resting on top. I don't really do much with them, other than an occasional glance, sigh, and subsequent greeting to them. From time to time I'll touch the fur. Mostly, though, they're just there, exactly where I want them and they want to be.

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