How do I tell my kids that our dog is dead?
 

It's been a rough 12 hours.

last night our dog Josie (small Shepard mix who's been in the family 11 years) was all of a sudden extremely catatonic and panting on her side. Her head was twitching and eyes shut. We took her to the animal emergency room around midnight and admitted her. Diagnosis was that she was bleeding in her eyes and gums and her blood had only 1 percent the platelets it should have.

Without the ability to clot, she had developed internal bleeding. There was blood filling her head and causing neurological damage form pressure on her brain. Today it got worse and we made a tough, difficult decision to euthanize her.

24 hours ago she was 100 percent normal.
This has come so sudden and so difficultly. Our kids are 8 and 9 and we haven't told them. They don't even know we took her to the hospital yet, but they saw her sick last night.

I'm sure some of you have gone through pet loss with kids. Just looking for some tips. We're supposed to go get a Christmas tree tonight after school. Do I tell them first? afterward? I cannot believe we'll be able to do it without us crying. my wife for sure.

You did the right thing.



I would be upfront and open with them. They will take it hard when ever you tell them. Better to get it done, and then maybe you can go somewhere quiet and have a "memorial service" in her honor and get your tree.

Sorry to hear, man.

My advice is to be direct. Tell them you did everything you could, let them see how hard it is for you, and expect a rough night. Crying in front of them is fine.

Find a dog that looks just like her and replace her. It works on every sitcom ever.

Tell them the pet died and it's apart of life. That's why you have to enjoy the time with them because it is not long. It's ok to be sad, but if you want to cheer yourself up close your eyes and remember the times when you were playing with the dog.

This, and a new puppy for Christmas.

:spock:

and then introduce them to Airwolf on Hulu. Stringfellow Hawke will dry their tears...

My dad told me my dog died while we were at Disneyland. I was 9. You can't do much worse than that.

Damn man, sorry for your loss.

I don't think I'd have the heart to and I'd tell them she ran away.

:( I had dogs airwolf and blue thunder and mimi from riptide

can't do that, then they'd always be looking for her.


My buddy told his kids their dog went to the farm to live. They kept asking to go visit.

Sorry to hear this, man. Don't know the answer, but I feel for you.

Sorry about your dog, Bro.

The answer to your question is:

A new puppy.

In reality, I would say this.

"Today we took Josie to the doctor because she looked very sick and the doctor said there was nothing we could do so we had to put her down."

I think thats the best way to word it.