PUG LIFE is the column from Mandurah Mail journalist Amy Martin.
Amy is a pug-obsessed music lover who sings an annoying amount and spends too much time looking at Pinterest.
When asked about her achievements she included memorising all the words to Disney’s Frozen, knowing the exact shade of green which is known as Tiffany Blue and having a laugh which people think is hilarious – all things which are quite useless in the real world.
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WHEN a person dies you know at some point there will be a funeral, but about when it’s a dog?
A dog doesn’t have a funeral plan in place to tell you if they wanted to be cremated or buried, or whether they want Amazing Grace played at their funeral.
There’s no such thing as a dog funeral but I wonder if there should be.
My dog died this week.
She had post-surgery complications after having two vertebrae fused together but up until the morning she passed away I was certain she was going to get better.
I wasn’t even ready to have the ‘I think it’s time’ conversation.
I remember reading one of those stories which float around the internet where a little boy figures dogs live shorter lives than people because they don’t need extra time to learn how to love; they already know how to do it.
Even if that’s true, it doesn’t make it hurt any less and it everything still feels final.
There’s nothing more final than death but for the people that are left behind, there needs to be something to merge the before and after periods together.
I’ve come to the conclusion funerals are for the living and without one it’s easy to feel a little lost.
I keep thinking should I do something?
I had a birthday party for my dog, am I someone who has a funeral for her as well?
The simple answer to that is no because the ironic thing is, it wouldn’t be about Minnie, it would be just be a whole lot of people asking if I was ok.
So should I put a gravestone out without a ceremony?
With no store-bought item fitting the bill quite right, and my own craft skills lacking as well, this too seems out of reach.
It really leaves me one thing and that is to write; one last hurrah under the Pug Life banner.
Minnie was the most loved pug in the world and preferred the company of people rather than dogs.
She had everyone wrapped around her paw, making it easy to get food off of people’s plates; she would spend her days lying on her back in the sun and liked watching the weather report.
It was impossible for her to keep her tongue in her mouth and would curl up with her teddy at night.
At the moment I spend my time thinking of the things I didn’t get the chance to do with her but in time, it will be what she did get to do which will make me smile.