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Finding Peace After Pet Loss
Sid Korpi wrote Good Grief: Finding Peace After Pet Loss after experiencing her own "tsunami" of grief.
This is an incredibly helpful book both for those who have lost a pet, and for those who haven't yet had that experience to prepare for it. Despite dealing with such a serious problematic subject, the book is uplifting, and points out very early on that grief is a "rich" experience, and not one that you can shy away from.
On a practical level the book has countless suggestions of wonderful ways to memorialise your pet. You may want to mourn alone, or you may want others to participate in some way, both approaches are valid and catered for. It is almost inevitable that while you are grieving some idiot will come out with something along the lines of, "But it was only a dog!" Sid has strategies to help you deal with this moment - and even suggests that such people may sometimes be more in need of sympathy than scorn.
This book engages readers on an emotional level too, and includes many of Sid's own experiences as well as many contributed stories. In this interview you can hear how Sid's animals seem to have some connection as soon as they meet, how sometimes she recognises or knows the name of her next pet, and how two of her dogs who had passed over helped guide her to her next dog.
It's an amazing collection of intriguing experiences, and it offers hope to those missing a beloved companion animal.
You can find out more about Sid at her Pet Loss website - and if you buy the book there the price includes a $2 donation to a no-kill shelter, and you can choose the inscription Sid writes in your book.
This is an interview that deals with death and loss sympathetically, but also has humour and warmth.
News
In the DogCast Radio News, hear about the loss of Gibson, the world's tallest dog, plus the dog who's alive thanks only to the wet British weather, the lucky dog who flew alongside his mistress from Paris to Israel, as well as dog rescuing - and being rescued - at sea.
Competition
We've been running a competition offering you a pawtographed T-shirt and postcards featuring the work of Ziggy the painting Pekingese, and in this show you can hear who the winners are.