Losing a beloved pet is one of the most heart-wrenching tragedies in this world, but as hard as it is there are many beautiful ways to obtain some closure for your heart-breaking loss. Of course, we don’t presume to know how to grieve your dog’s death — it is an impossible pain that we all tragically must endure in our lifetime. However, we hope that these six unique and beautiful memorial ideas might help to keep their memory alive.
A CLASSIC MEMORIAL
A popular trend of the past decade is a physical memorial to your pet. There are all types of memorials, from the classic engraved rock to cutting-edge modern options. It’s impossible to know how to grieve the loss of your dog, but there are a few lovely options that may help ease the pain by keeping their darling memory alive.
JEWELLERY TO REMEMBER YOUR DOG BY
To begin: there’s a mess of jewellery available for the magpie-at-heart, ranging from simple dog-memory dog-tags to lizard-scale-pattern lockets to brass boxes in which to store precious memories. If jewellery floats your grieving boat, these ornaments can provide the most conventional and potentially least expensive way to remember your pet.
PLUSH REPLICAS TO REMEMBER THEM BY
Need something more tactile than a simple picture? Why not try a plush replica. By sending some pictures to a custom plush producer, you can buy a terrifyingly accurate rendition of your pet for several hundred dollars. Creepy? Perhaps, but for those who just need to hug something familiar, little can beat a tiny plush copy.
CREATE A DIGITAL MEMORIAL
Being part of the 21st Century, the internet has wiggled itself into all facets of daily life. Don’t fight the feeling; set up a personal pet memorial website, or join one of the existing ones. Making your own site, however, does come with some cost. Hosting services, web design and programming don’t come cheap. But building a completely personalized website offers an unmatched degree of creative freedom. Think of it as futuristic scrapbooking that you can share with friends and family at the click of a button. There are also many websites like http://www.ilovedmypet.com/ and http://critters.com/ that provide free template-based memorial pages to make this process simpler.
YOUR PET CAN BECOME A DIAMOND
There are always options for those to whom money is not a factor. Why not turn your deceased best friend into a diamond? That’s right, a real diamond! All terrestrial life is carbon-based, and diamonds are nothing more than carbon chains of a maximum density. It’s quite possible to take the cremated remains of an animal (or human, for that matter) and compress them into a full karat diamond in a variety of colours. If $2000 to $18,000 for the diamond making procedure is just a bit too rich, it’s also easy to mix in some ashes with molten glass to make rather captivating memorial urn.
HOW TO GRIEVE YOUR DOG’S DEATH:
REMEMBER TO CELEBRATE THEIR HAPPY LIFE
It’s easy to forget, but memorials aren’t about mourning a death, but rather celebrating a happy, vibrant life lived. Everything, from a locket with a favourite picture, to a website, to a multi-thousand dollar jewel is meant to be a reminder of all the good times had. Whether all this seems over the top or just right, there’s no denying that with the right memorial, any pet can live forever in your heart and fondest memories.
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{CREDITS: Written by Alexander Bentley | Photography by Alex Motoc}