Our Departed Friends, not quite sure of a title..

Well as you all know i lost my dear girly last July, the 27th to be exact-after being unwell for some time for varying ailments, and really been kept here for selfish reasons a while beyond 'her time', she was let go.
Now while there is no doubt this was the right action to take as she was worsening very quickly towards the end and, due to the pain and such, her temperament had become shockingly terrible. I had to clean some cupboards out today..and found part of her adoption papers from the RSPCA from those many moons ago, I'd forgotten they were still there tbh, and it made me realise..I never really dealt with her 'going', I came home..removed all of her things, bed, bowls etc and then just got on with things..Ralph was only about 4 months old so my time was eaten up anyway, and I know it sounds foolish-but although its about 8 months she's been gone, I don't think it's still sunk in
As you all know,regardless of the rest of the animal crew, Polly and I had a very close bond-to say we did everything together was an understatement, if i was sitting on the computer she used to sit on my lap, sitting on the sofa chatting to somebody for example-she'd be sitting behind me on the headrest part, if i even went to the toilet-she'd be waiting outside the door! If i moved-so did she, and that's how it was for many years. Now, the fact that this isn't there anymore is something rather difficult to deal with..Florrie & Ralph are lovely nutcases but they just love the world, and like to be anywhere and everywhere, and like I said love everyone-cause this is all they've ever known, love from birth with their breeders, and then from us when they come to live with us. Whereas Polly having the troubled start to her life as she did, then coming to us in the state she was-it was just different She seemed to have that 'look' of whole contentment too her life, and when she first came here-she latched onto me, and I to her and we both saw each other through the years, even on the bad days.
And i know its absoloutley awful of me, but since she;s join i really have felt as if i've distanced myself from the other two..I can't explain what i mean, not that i have stopped or lessened my love for them..but guess, just felt guilty whenever we do something very 'doggy'-i'm not getting my point across, i know.
And..well, I really miss that bond And as the year since her death grows nearer and nearer it makes me think, does it ever get easier, do we ever get over the holes upon our hearts that these mutts leave?
Sorry this post really is a load of pointless twaddle, but felt writing it down would help me get out what i meant more.

This was a photo taken on the last walk she was able to take, she was an odd looking wee gremlin-but she was MY odd looking wee gremlin.

And this one was a photo i took and although it was a little while before she was PTS and she wasn't that unwell here..just starting really, I knew..i knew when looking at her this day..to see how much effort it took getting up and around, and how just 'worn out' she seemed, that her time was drawing in..

I know exactly what you mean Luke, I had a cry just the other day after Eunice lost Ludmilla, I sat on the floor with Tikaani's head on my lap and just cried & cried.
Someone else's grief sometimes is all it takes to trigger something off in your heart and finding the old adoption papers just brought it all back to you.
I miss Barney every day and its almost a year that I let him go. Sat here now with a tear making its way down my cheek.

My old man picture taken on his last picnic.

the holes just cover over but never really heal,i lost my zoey,almost 3 years ago in may,and she was here 1 minute gone the next she never woke from anethenistic after a c-section,i was in machine mode while i hand reared her pups,she was my life and soul,were i went she went,she stood between me and another dog when he went for me,she stood between me and strangers,she was MY dog,i love all my dogs but she was special.

i dont know i we get over things like death or we learn to to live with it,and small things upset us
i hope you can learn to live with it,she will be at the bridge for me as will your doggie and everybody elses doggie,we we get there.

I dont think you get over it but it does get easier with time, i have also noticed as time goes on you remember more and more good times. I had a geat bond with Storm, totally different to the others, but there is a bond still there. Jake had a rough start to life and was very timid now he acts like he owns the place and even gumbles under his breath when asked to do something. In time i will develop close bonds with them all, all strong and maybe as strong as with Storm, but they will all be a different type of bond, as with Star he has helped me get through tough times after Storm just by being their and being himself.

It has not even been a year since Storm went and things still get to me, I have even called him in from the garden since then and then it clicks he will not come running. But i know these will ease in time.

It's "nice" [if this word is barely appropriate] to speak to those in the same place right now.
Stormey, Luz..I think we all lost our three within a short apce of each other, infact dear old Storm and my Polly went in the same month.
It's strange because you spend so many years enjoying their company, enjoying their youth..those long walks, the enchanting habbits they have and so on..yet we never seem to prepare ourselves for when we loose them.
*sighs* They do leave such large gaps for such humble creatures

It is strange, but the way i look at it is, remember the fun you had and the good times, then think you have them all to come again but in a different way. we never seem to prepare ourself becasue of the fun they bring.

They do leave large gaps and chewed chairs and remotes in my case. But joking aside the gap does become smaller and the others will help fill it, but you will always have memorys, pics and the knowledge you had a great friend in polly and that for me is the main thing.

Luke, you'll never get over it completely, something simple will bring back memories of her when you least expect it and open up the wound of her loss all over again, Believe you me there have been so many cats and dogs in my life, besides all the small furries that my sons had, and I remember them all down to the last mouse! You have although you may not realise it, had one of those exceptional bonds that come to some of us with our animals, be thankful for that, remember her with love and happiness for the good times you had together, but don't expect your others to be able to fill her place, they are individuals just as Polly was and will find their own place in you heart Kath

I don't think the feeling of loss will ever go away. But I suppose as time goes on, you remember them with happiness just as often, or more than, you remember the loss. I don't think there is a set time for things sinking in either. With brandie It took me about a week to really realise she wasn't coming back. But with Bailey it's been over 6 months now but I still haven't really dealt with it

I think we have to learn to deal with loss otherwise no one would be able to live. So it happens naturally. But it doesn't go away Sometimes things will remind us and bring all the pain back to the front again.
The first year since losing my Brandie has been and gone now, but just last night I went and dug out one of her toys to sit with. I have no idea why

It must be difficult to feel "normal" around your other dogs, but over time you should be able to bond more with them, and other dogs in your life without feeling guilty. You'll feel glad that you still have them in your life

oh my love,i thought i was alone in that empty space
i lost my xena back in sept,she was only 16months.
since then there been a big numb empty feeling left behind,it hurts just to think ill neva c her again,stroke her again,just be in the same room would be nice

i dont no if you eva get over it,we got seren last week and i felt awful for it,im so glad we got her but it hasnt made loseing xena any easier

i feel the pain with you