I’m a big fan of the James Herriot books and stories. You may be most familiar with All Creatures Great and Small — the book, the film, or the series. Herriot referred to them as his “little cat and dog stories”, but they are much more than that. They are glimpses into lives — Herriot’s own, and the lives of his clients and their owners.
My favorite story has to be the one about why pets have such short lives.
It goes a little something like this: a family needed to have their dog put to sleep. The dog, at ten years old, was dying of cancer. Herriot was unable to do anything more than offer the family a peaceful passing for the dog.
The parents (and owners of the dog) thought it might be good for their six year old son to be present when the dog was put to sleep. Everyone was there for the dog’s final moments, petting him and telling him he was loved.
Afterwards, Herriot and the parents were talking about how sad it is that dogs have such short lives. The boy spoke up, saying he knew why:
He said that humans are put on Earth to learn how to be good, and to live a good life. To love everyone, and do good things. But pets already know how to do that, so they don’t have to be here as long.
That’s an explanation that definitely works for me.
The story has come up a few times recently — I can think of at least three friends who’ve lost a pet in the last month or so. And every time, I mention this story. I hope that in some small way, it brings comfort.
Losing a pet is never easy — even when the pet has been sick and suffering, it can still be difficult to say goodbye. We get such a short time with our pets, compared to the time we spend without them. They become such an important part of our lives so quickly.
But maybe that’s because they’re already full of love, and already know how to be good. So they move right in and infuse our lives with goodness and love and laughter… and it quickly gets hard to remember what life was like without them there.