I have just visited some friends who has told me a very strange tale.

When they bought their house the woman who owned it dug up all the dogs that she had owned & who had been buried in the garden as she could not bear to be parted from them. Even though some of them had been dead for ten years !

Is it me or is this strange behaviour for a dog owner ?

Carol Preston

Very strange in my opinion
Mick

Totally weird. Bit Burke and Hare :)
Dot

I think this is rather odd behaviour, but I have heard of someone who dug up her Chihuahua after they had been gone for years, her name was gloria something maybe this is the same person, cant imagine a world full of strange pet owners.

Our first family German Shepherd was buried under a huge tree in our garden where he used to lie under our treehouse :)
We sold our house and moved elsewhere.
Years later on a return visit to my old stomping grounds, I saw that our old house had been changed quite extensively - major excavation work had obviously taken place. The tree was gone and so too would have been the remains of my old friend :(. I found that quite upsetting that he had been disturbed in that way :( If we had suspected that that might happen we would have buried him somewhere else.
So no! I don't think that she is wierd.
People can have other people exhumed and relocated - so why not pets?
After that happened to our dog - I have always had my dogs cremated and their ashes returned to me.

This wasn't just one dog but a whole load & only because she couldn't bear to be parted from them

I've had my pets cremated after death for over 15 years so if she felt so much for them why didn't she have them cremated ? Not cheap but whats money after a lifetime of love.

Isn't hindsight wonderful :)

Whose hindsight mine ? Sorry as soon as a friend set up his pet cremation service I started to use it No hind sight 4 me b4 that I used to have them buried in his woodland where they used to play My first dog to be cremated in 1985 thats seventeen years ago now

No Carol not yours :)
What I mean is - my guess is she probably never thought that she would have to move. I personally wouldn't like the task of exhuming an old friend but I can understand where she is coming from and respect that.
In hindsight - she perhaps could have made alternative arrangements for her dogs when they passed away. Digging them up must have been heartbreaking for her :(

A friend of mine has all her dogs cremated and then buys pots for the garden and buries the ashes under plants in the pots, when she moves she simply takes the pots with her, I think that is a wonderful idea. Ingrid

Over the years I have had my hounds & dogs cremated because I never felt i could leave them in the garden when I moved !!! Now I know I will be here till I drop, so will be happy to bury them in the garden or the field. I have a dresser full of urns!!

Hi sis, I have eleven small pine caskets in the bottom of a wardrobe, just in case we ever move. I couldnt bear to leave them behind :(

Hi Phil
I feel the same too!
We were going to scatter Trevor, as he really loved one particular place, but I can't even do that so he is still here in a wooden box.
I couldn't bury them unless I knew 100% I would never move again, so don't suppose I'll ever bury them, unless I use Sharon's idea and have them with me when I die as I won't be *moving* again after death will I?
Nicky

My father had his beloved Cocker cremated when she died (two years ago yesterday :() and her ashes are in a china urn in their china cabinet.

Dad takes Bess's collar with him whenever he goes out anywhere and he's written in his will that he wants Bess's ashes buried with him and Ebony's if she's died by then as well.

My mum thinks he's really morbid, especially as he's booked a plot in the cemetary overlooking the one spot in the river that Bess would drink from, but it makes him happy. It's only a single plot so there's no room for my mum, and she's not amused that he's put the dog before her!!

Fiona
x x x

Hi Nicky, Silly things we are !!!! I just cant live with the thought of leaving them behind if we ever move. I suppose some folk will think we are morbid, but we cant help how we feel. Update on Dusty Bin :)Well she is now lead trained. We took her to ring craft on Thursday, and apart from not much liking the slippery floor, she was as good as gold. Took her on the mat twice and she took it all in her stride. Then she went to sleep for the rest of the evening, so we are making good progress. She is eating well, and loves Star to bits. Her only fault is she likes jumping on my back when Im doing poo patrol, and tends to knock me flying, but its all good fun!!!!! ;)

Sam if Phil is your sis as well, does that make me yours to (PS if it does, I'm chuffed to bits :-))

Hi sis, we are triplets you silly billy :D

NO, NO,NO Phil. We all have our wee oddities, but if were were excatly the same no one could thole us!

Not identical triplets, individual ones lol

I have been toying with the idea of keeping the ashes of any of my dogsw that I loose from now on and have them burie3d with me. Is this allowed?

I don't see why not - you can put anything you like in the coffin as long as it'll fit.

Fiona
x x x

You're going to think that I'm even stranger. Until one very hard frost we buried the dogs, but since then we have cremated. No I not only have the pine boxes, my will states that are all to be buried with me.

I dont think that is strange at all, I think its a really comforting thought.

I'm the same Sharon, when my girls go, they will be cremated and I will keep their ashes, and when I go they will be coming with me.

I'm looking into ways of having my horse cremated (not i'm not nutts!!) for when the time comes., we have been through a lot together, and he has kept me going through some very difficult times. He means as much to me as the dogs., and when I go, I want them all with me :D :(

Natasha

Not strange to me, because I know someone who did it. She had to move house and coldn't bear to be parted from the dogs's graves.

Pepper's ashes are in a small pretty heart shaped faux ivory box with little silk roses on the top. She sits on a shelf in "my" room and goes wherever we move :)
I thought I was going to spread her ashes out at Stausee Bitburg where she used to chase the ducks, but I somehow don't think that's what either of us want. I do get an odd sense of comfort whenever I happen to glance at it. :)

So far I have buried mine in the garden and planted trees or shrubs over them. I would not dream of digging them up, nor would it bother me too much what anyone else might do here in the future as I had them during the most precious time - when they were alive. I have their photos and my memories and they will, I hope, be with me till I'm no more.

If I had them cremated I don't think I would (or could) keep the ashes but would spread them under a tree somewhere - if I was really concerned I would do as a friend does and scatter them in a national park which will never be built over.

Strange how we are all so different

Christine

I quite agree the time we have with our pets is far more important than what happens to their remains once the spirit is released they no longer in their bodies

I think this woman must have an obession with her dogs & maybe she is very possessive over what she considers hers, she is probably very difficult to live with

I consider my pets to be gifts from nature & that every moment is a privilege We have an unwritten unconditional partnership.

I'm very obsessed with dogs - I live with them, train them and work with them for a career - and often go on holiday with them as well. I keep them when they retire and I care about what happens to them when they die :)
I guess that makes me well weird and difficult to live with :)

You and me both then Lara :-)

Hi Carol
Our neighbours moved a couple of months ago and dug up their pet budgie when they moved!!!!! :) Can't imagine there was much left of it - it had been dead 5 yrs! :D

I myself have my pets cremated, to me this is the last decent thing i can do for them, but I do now for sure that this is the same person I had heard about and some of these dogs had been dead for over ten years.
I would hate to leave my pets behind, but I would never desturb there resting place myself.
When you bury your pet your heart is broken in two and a lot of thought and are goes into where and how you are going to bury them.
I fell like cremation, to bury your pet is the very last thing you would do for them.
I am sorry but if a family member was buried and you were going to move to another town or country you would not dig up that family member to take them with you would you, you would be forever haveing funerals.

well i got two dogs that were cremated,7 seven years a old, still on the pine self in the hallway,one day i will put the ashes in a pot with a nice plant,so if we move i take me with me,or the other thing was if i die all the dogs ash could be buried with me,but very one as different veiws and how they cope with this sitauation,none dog people are the worse they just do not unstand how we cope with our grivement.