Cheerio

Emily tells us about a very good boy named Cheerio.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Welcome to Dead Pets, the podcast about pet grief that celebrates the lives of the creatures who have changed ours. Head over to www.deadpetspodcast.com to sign up for our newsletter. We will be dropping merch later this year, and newsletter subscribers get 30% off that first merch drop. And don't forget to follow us on TikTok. Over there, you can see videos of some of the pets that we have featured. On today's episode, Emily tells us about a very special boy named Cheerio.

SPEAKER_03 0:33

Cheerio lived to be just shy of 14 years old. That's where his name actually came from because it looked like he stepped in a bowl of Cheerios and they stuck because he had some up his legs and then some on his face. I actually wasn't there when we picked him up. We got him to be part of a service dog training program that I had started. So I had just moved from Arizona to Maine. And the school I went to in Arizona for my freshman and sophomore year of high school, they had a service dog training program. You had to be a junior to be in the program. I was only a freshman, but like wanted to be involved so badly. Um, so we actually fostered one of the puppies until their program started. And then once the program started, I stayed on with the group as kind of like their historian and um photographer, that sort of thing. Cause I just I I love dogs. I wanted to be a part of the group. The thing that is hard about having high schoolers train service animals is high schoolers don't necessarily have the same maturity as adults, right? So there were different situations that had happened, and one of the handlers fell through, and they ended up with an extra dog with nobody to train it. And I had been there since the very beginning. So I knew all the commands they were using. I knew what the dogs knew, and I was able to slide into that spot as a freshman and got into the program. Um, so I spent my freshman and sophomore year learning how to train this dog for mobility service work. And then when we moved, I didn't want to give up what I had learned. I really liked it. My parents helped me work to establish a nonprofit. We called it college-bound canines, and I took the thing to the school board out here in Maine and told them, look, this is what I know from where I came from. This is what I'd like to do. Like, can we do this? And I was able to get it approved. So I was teaching five other high school students at my new high school how to train service dogs. The school I came from in Arizona was kind of like an inner city school. So they offered a lot of programs to keep students involved and active in the school in Maine. School board approved the program. And at that point, I was a junior. So the the intent of the program was if you started as a junior, you're graduating the same time your dog is graduating. So your dog is getting placed with its recipient, and then you know, you can go off to college. So the goal of college-bound canines was to have high school students train these service dogs for physically disabled other college-bound high school students. So you have students training dogs for students. We ended up with six dogs in the program. The success rate of service dogs is not high. It's a very difficult thing to, you know, ask this dog to achieve. All six dogs were successfully placed in homes. Two of them went on to have productive working careers. All six dogs are happy. Cheerio was one of them. He failed out of our program because he developed dog aggression. And you can't place a dog out in public that is not friendly with other dogs. He was absolutely phenomenal. He could pick up a credit card off the floor. We had two English setters in the program: a golden, a lab, and two border collies. Ideal breeds, not necessarily, but also we were working with what we could find. We had hoped to kind of look towards some of the shelters, but they're like, if it's not a permanent home, we can't adopt. But like they would have permanent homes, you know. So we we had to work with what we could find. The English setters were phenomenal because they're a working game breed type dog, they have a really soft mouth, but they also have a really high prey drive. So, like, they wanted to pick things up, they wanted to bring it. And like, again, the soft mouth, he could pick up a credit card and not poke a hole through it, you know. Well, at the end, not poke a hole through it. At the beginning, there was some learning there. When we picked him up, he was just, you know, a little puppy. Mom and dad picked him up because I was in school. He was in our house with three other dogs. He was not dog aggressive from the beginning. I don't know where it came from. He was just the cutest little dog you have ever seen in your life. His tail didn't have its feathers yet. It was all like quite like a little rope, but you could wavy because you could tell like it was gonna like lengthen. And he just had these big dark brown spots on his forehead, and he was just so perfect. I picked him for me because I wanted to work with this puppy because it was so cute. And then, like, we assigned the other dogs to the other students. He was so focused. Um, he'd go to so all the dogs would go to school with us. Um, then we'd meet once a week on the weekend for training classes, and you know, we'd have a goal that we were trying to meet each week. So, like, we're gonna work on obviously when they're puppies, you're working on sit, stay, come, heal. But then we started working on bring it or carry or like advanced skills as we got into it. But as a puppy, a little goofball, super big ham, super big ham. Hard not to be when you're just so dang cute. Um, but he was also super focused and really locked in quickly on like I have a job versus I don't. Um, they had, you know, service dog and training vests, and he knew like, if I'm wearing the vest, it's time to get down to business. If I'm not, then like I'm gonna act like a complete idiot. We moved to Maine in between my sophomore and junior year of high school. And I mean, on one hand, it was a a really good time to move because at least you have two years there instead of just your senior year. But um, it was definitely a hard transition because I moved out here into a community where these kids have all gone to school together since kindergarten. Like nobody leaves, nobody comes, they've been together for forever. So it was really, really hard to make friends. And then I made it more difficult on myself by coming in with my like Western ideas. And you know, I wanted to start a service dog program and be the girl that brought dogs to school, but in doing so, I unintentionally built in a best friend because it didn't matter if like I didn't have peers that wanted to be my friend or not, because I had one at my side the whole time. And um I even made I had to give a speech at graduation, and I had even based my entire graduation speech around him, and so it was the lessons I learned from my dog, and you know, like just being kind and every day's a good day if you make it that, and um listening and all of all of those key things that we love our pets for is then what I um base the speech around because it was everything that my peers were not. So um he changed that's I think that's one of the key ways that he changed my life when he came into it, is that he gave me a friend that was there 24-7, 365 days. I think, oh my gosh, I'm already gonna cry. I think that Cheerio and I had a stronger bond because of that. Because, like, granted, when I originally started working with him, the intent was never to keep him. You know, I knew that I would only have him for a short time and he would be moving on. Um, when he became dog aggressive, which is really unfortunate because he was great with pigs, he was great with sheep, he was great with people, children, love children. Like he was good with everything, cats, everything else. But like, no, I just don't like my other dogs. Um, but I think because we both um he was in such a big transition period of my life that we just were really, really close because he was always very consistent. There's so much personal growth and transition during that time that happens that I think makes it so different because like you'll never experience that much change in that short of a time again. So it feels like I've been through the trenches with you because there's so much, so much heartbreak and change and growth and success that like it's all crammed in between, you know, like again, like it would have been what 16 for him, 16 to 30, roughly. You know, like that's a a huge uh span of really monumental life events. Once he became my dog, obviously um he lost his public access, which because I mean we're not gonna continue taking him out when you're not training. I think this is not gonna sound great, but I think then you can like just give in to like fully loving. If I mean you love even when you're training them, you love them so much, and it is so hard to let them go. But like when it's oh, this isn't gonna leave, like you just okay, you know, like it's it unlocks a different depth, but just because he couldn't go with me everywhere didn't change the fact that we still did everything together. We would go to the lake during the summer, we'd go hiking a little bit. At the time, I did feel a little bit limited as to activities that I could do with him because I always had to be on guard for like what's around and like hyper vigilant. Being older, I think I'm like, oh, like we probably could have done this, or we could have, you know, like, but you learn every time. He was an absolute goofball. So, like, and I don't know if this is he's the only setter I've ever owned. So I don't know if this is a setter thing or not, but like he'd play with himself. So, like, if you didn't want to throw the ball, if you just watched him, that's all he was like, Oh, look at this, look at this. And you know, he'd like grab the toy and shake it and throw it up in the air, and it lands, you know, three or four feet to the side, and he'll run over and grab it and he throws it back the other way. Like he just was the best at entertaining himself, and that's something that I have never seen in any of the dogs we had growing up, and the dog I have now, like none of that. Um, he was just so happy to do anything. Um, but the the thing that sticks out the most is like I literally I could sit on the back step in the yard, and if I just sat there, he'd just take the toy and like eventually he'd bring it over to you, and you know, you toss it once, and then he'll play with it for another like three, four, five go-arounds, then bring it back. So, like it was that was that was great. Um, he went to college with me. I went to school out in Ohio, and we went out there together. I lived off campus, and the house that I lived in had a fenced-in yard, and there were power lines that went over the backyard. The stinking squirrels would run the power lines. So he would just run in the backyard back and forth with his, like looking up, barking at him as they'd run. Um, obviously, there's a lot of heartbreak during that time. So he was always the man that never let me down. Um, and then um the transition to college, that was a big one. Um freshman year first semester, I lived in a dorm on campus because you had to do at least one semester on campus. So um, first semester, I was in the dorm. Second semester, I had moved off campus and I was sharing a place with some friends, and the roommate situation just completely combust. It went downhill real fast. Pretty quickly after that. Um, I had gotten the place by myself. We had made sure it was dog friendly and moved him out. Mom brought him out so he could be with me. Quite honestly, I fully believe that he prevented us from being broken into one night. Um, so I went to school in Northwest Ohio, and there was, I want to say it might have been my junior year, um, there was that week of really cold polar vortex weather. So um we had just come back from Christmas break, and the entire first week of classes were canceled because it was supposed to be like negative 20, negative 30 with the wind chill, and they didn't even want students walking between buildings. So they canceled classes the first week. And um I had not gone out to shovel my driveway or anything because I was like, I'm not supposed to be in class. I'm clearly not supposed to be shoveling my driveway. Originally, he had slept in a crate, and when he moved in with me in college, I was like, what good is a dog in a crate if something were to happen, right? So um I the crate was still in my room, but I'd leave the door open, but I'd close my bedroom door. So like we were just there. And um, it was like two in the morning, and he went absolutely ballistic, like in a way that I had never seen him act before. So I opened the bedroom door and just let him go because I was like, I don't know what is going on here. So I just let him out and he's like running through the living room, just barking his head off. He goes to the back door where there's a doggy door, and um, I opened it for him, and he went out and like ran his little lap around the yard, came back in, and he's just still like just barking. And I closed the doggy door, turned on like my porch light, like didn't see anything. I'm like, okay, like he's starting to settle down, and I'm like, right, like that was that was really weird, but okay, you know, and um we went back to bed. I woke up the next morning and I opened the curtains in my living room, and in the snow that had blown on my front porch were these men's work boots prints in the snow. And I was like, Okay, and so it was a warmer day, so I did go out to shovel my drive, and these boots came up my drive, but they had been you could track the print down the side of the street, like in the street by the curb, not on the sidewalk. And so I went to my neighbor and I was like, hey John, like you haven't come over to my house, have you? And he was like, No, why? And I was like, because there's these men's boots on my porch. And he was like, No, I don't know. So I don't know if it was somebody that was just cold and thought there was nobody there and was looking for a place that was warm, or if it was somebody, I don't know who the person was or what their intentions were. But after that, I was like, in my opinion, you saved my life because I don't know if somebody had come in, I don't know what would have happened. And like from that moment on, I was like, I mean, I always trusted him, obviously, but I was like, you have our best interests, like you will take care of me. And um, that was a massive moment for me that I was like, you you saved us from something potentially very bad happening that night. You know how, like, in people, there's book smart and street smart. He obviously like he had the book smarts, he could do the skills, he could turn a light switch on, he could take your hair tie out, he could, you know, help take your coat off. He had the book smarts, but he had street smarts. So we live out here in the woods. Our area has a lot of porcupine, and so my parents' dogs, all three of them, had been quilled at some point. Um, they had two newfies and a springer. And the newfies, I don't even think it was intentional. I think the newfies were just like walking through the yard and accidentally like got bumped by them or something. Like, we we don't even know how the newfies got it. The springer was just highly inquiry. The springer was book smart. He was super book smart. Um, but Cheerio, he had didn't happen often, but he had run off into the woods, and so we were like calling for him, calling for him, and we're like starting to panic a little bit, and you'd hear him bark and then he'd stop, and then he'd bark, and then he'd stop. So you're literally playing like Marco Polo with his bark. We find him, and he has cornered this porcupine in like dead roots of a tree. It's butts facing out, it's ready to, you know, poke him, but he's just standing there barking at it. He's like, hey, I found it, hey, I have it, but like would not touch one. So, like, in my opinion, I'd say like he had the street smarts. He he knew enough that like I don't like this thing, but was smart enough to not be like, I'm gonna tear it apart. That was kind of a cool little trait about him, is he had street smarts. He could figure out like situations that sometimes dogs just charge into. He'd like look at it and be like, I'm just gonna let you know that this is here instead. So, like scrunchies, because he had such a soft mouth, you tell him, take my hair, take it, and he'd like grab the scrunchie and pull it out for you. Like a zip up hoodie. If you had it unzipped, you could tell him to take it and he'd grab the sleeve and yank the sleeve, and then you'd give him the other one and he'd take that off. The entire time I owned him, I don't think I ever picked up my own car keys. Um, like if I dropped them, I'd just be like, bring it, and he'd, you know, pick it up and give it to me. Anything that, you know, you drop, you I drop a pen. I he made me so lazy. You know, drop a pen. I'd tell him to bring it and he'd get all excited, you know, like he liked to work. We'd still do those skills, and then I mean, essentially at that point it just kind of becomes like a party trick, right? You know, like you have a friend over and you're like, oh, hey, check this out, you know, like if my dog can do, you know. I think that helped keep him mentally sharp as well. Um, you know, it kept his mind going, kept him thinking, kept him up on his skills, um, and just made him a really well-rounded, well-behaved dog in general. I spent a lot of time training him. And honestly, I think a lot of dogs are capable of those additional tasks. It's just sometimes sometimes as a owner, we don't have the skills to be able to unlock that potential, you know. So it's about somebody teaching you so you can teach them. I think it's a really, really tight bond because the fact that, you know, like the first, you know, year, year and a half of his life, we were together for everything. You know, we went shopping together, we went to the movies together, he went to school, we were home together. Like there was a lot, um, there's a lot of time and training invested into a service dog that just makes it a much deeper connection, I think, than, you know, like getting a puppy and like, okay, I'll be back from work, you know, like it's it's a different, it's a different situation. I affectionately refer to him as my high school dropout because he was not able to graduate from his program. So um he was, yeah, he was my little, I am a proud owner of a high school dropout. In Maine, depending on where you live, you your town has like, it's called a town beach, but it's really just the lake. But it's a place for just like the people of the town to like go to the lake. I would take him there quite often. He wasn't like a massive, like, I want to go swim across the lake, but like we'd play ball in like the surf, and um just I don't know, you'd throw the ball out and again he'd bring it back, but also splash around and just really enjoy it. And then um I have this picture, and this one it just comes to mind all the time. You know those kids' towels that have hoods? I had one that's a flamingo. For whatever reason, I had made that his towel, and so like I'd put them back up in the truck bed of my truck and I dry them off, and I have this picture where you know the flamingo hood is sitting on top of his head, and he just looks so happy. The best days were just watching him enjoy life. I work on a dairy, sometimes we'd walk the fields around work, and he just loved to just go, like just take off and just run. And you'd call him over and he'd come running back, and just to really watch him be free. And then, like, you know, on the ride home, like he'd have his head out the window and things like that. Like, and it it was it's just the best when like you look in your mirror and you see their heads sticking out the side of the car, like safely, safely, but um, just to watch the absolute joy that he had for life was really special. His hips are what started to give out on him. Um, he was a little bit bow-legged. Um, so he always kind of had this big old like walk to his rear end. It just got really, really hard for him to get up and down. I had made an appointment with the vet. Even before, like probably six months to a year before that, I would like look at him and I just burst into tears because I knew he was getting old. He had been with me through so much. We'd been to college. Um, we moved into the house I'm in now, my first real house together. He'd be in he was in perfect health for an old dog. But I would look at him and I would just lose it. And he was like, Ma, what's your problem? And I'm like, I can't imagine my life without you. So I had made an appointment with our vet. She had been the vet that had seen him his whole life. She had worked with us through the program and stuff. At that point, you know, like we'd had a relationship for long enough that we are also now, you know, like real life friends, not just a client. She was willing to meet me after hours at the office. Their office has this nice little like outdoor garden spot where like, you know, some of the employees can like, you know, eat outside or whatever on the way over there. We stopped at McDonald's and I got him a cheeseburger because why not? She was like, Are you ready? And I was like, Can you look at him one more time? I want to make sure this is the right decision, you know, because sometimes, like, just because you know what you need to do, you need to hear somebody else tell you that it's what you need to do.

SPEAKER_02 23:49

If we're being completely honest, I think I held on to him longer than what was fair, just because I I couldn't say goodbye. And I think he would have held on for forever.

SPEAKER_03 24:05

And she looked at him and she was like, Yeah, um, you know, like there's nothing that's gonna get better. Everything's just gonna continue to get harder. We went out back, and he always loved to just just be next to me. So even like sitting at a kitchen table, he just wanted to be next to you. I sat on the grass and I had him circle up in between my legs. He sat there like we always did.

SPEAKER_02 24:31

He laid down and I was just petting him, and he put his head over my leg, kind of like by my calf. And that's where he stayed until long after he was gone. My mom and dad were with me, and um, you know, like obviously they were crying as well, but they just you know let me get it out and stuff, and um I just yeah, just completely broke down. Um and eventually I I you know I was kind of like I guess it's time to go.

SPEAKER_03 25:19

And I had to take my leg out from under his head and like he was like my leg was still warm.

SPEAKER_02 25:34

And I don't know, that's like a feeling that I still can feel to this day. I I think it's true for everybody, but at that point, like walking away is always the hardest part. There's no like good way to just leave. I ended up doing a private cremation with him, which wasn't something that I had necessarily planned on, um, just because it's always expensive, you know.

SPEAKER_03 26:09

Um, but it just felt right.

SPEAKER_02 26:13

I didn't feel like I could just not like because again, he was such a big part of my life. I was a wreck for a long time. A long time.

SPEAKER_03 26:26

I don't necessarily recommend this for other people, but my current dog, her name is Chowder, she was born in January. I brought her home in March. So she was with him March, April, May, June, and July. I did struggle with that transition with the two of them. Um, it was fine because when she was really little, I could put her in like a circle pen in the house. So like keep them separate. By the end, she was bigger and old enough that like I couldn't totally keep them separate. But he had snapped at her a couple times, but he was old and slow, and she was young, fast, and thankfully willing to like back down and not engage. Oh my god. Um, so she very quickly learned like keep my boundaries and distance. But in my kitchen here, like I have a picture and he's sleeping on the rug in the kitchen, and she's sleeping like right at the entrance to the living room. So, like, they're together but separate. So they got to a point where like I think he actually did enjoy her, just like don't touch me, don't come too close. But like, I don't think he minded having the second dog. We made it work, and I don't have any regrets about it. But I also fully know that if I didn't have her before I lost him, I still don't know if I would have a dog right now. Losing him was that hard. I don't see myself without a dog, especially following you know what him and I went through in Ohio. Like, I feel better with a dog in my life. I feel safer. I love the companionship, but that loss was a massive blow. Um, and I know we talked a little bit earlier about like everybody has a deep connection with their pet, but his almost felt, you know, like next level. So that was a very, very difficult time. Chowder definitely helped. Just I wasn't alone in the house, you know, because again, it was the three of us. So, like if it had just been the two of us, then you come home to an empty house, and that's an awful feeling. So it it was really nice having her being a hurting breed, she's a completely different cat from Cheerio. Um Cheerio was just, like I said, so affectionate, just wants to be next to you. Childs is more, oh, where are you going? I'm gonna follow. But it's just because I, you know, convenient, you know, like I was also going to that room. Like she's not overly affectionate. She's not a massive snuggler. So it was a little bit hard because like all I wanted to do was like, you know, let me hold you. And she's like, oh god, this is what I said before. She's like, uh, let me check this responsibility box, you know, like so that was it was a little bit hard because I mean like I could literally just, you know, again, sit on the floor with Cheerio between my legs and just hold him and he would just sit there like as long as I needed. And she's like, Oh, she let up a little. This is my chance, you know, and she's like, pew. But I think she did help that transition period a lot. Cause like I said, if I didn't have her, I probably still wouldn't have her. And I think that'd be sad. I I got his ashes and stuff back, and it took me almost a full year before I could open that bag, and I've opened it and I've looked at it, and the urn is beautiful, and I still can't put it out yet. It still sits in the bag in my spare room because I just have not been able to pull it out. My sister for Christmas that year, so I lost him in July for Christmas. She gave me this beautiful charcoal drawing that her friend did of him. It it's it's stunning, it's beautiful. It really captures him and who he was. My sister made a frame and painted it, and it's just really pretty. But it took me again a solid three or four months before I could even put it. I I just had put it in the spare room because like I opened it, I balled, I had to put it away. Like I just I couldn't do it. The grief felt softer after like six months. After a year, I could like I could easily talk about him just in passing. I could talk about him in general. It was like the good times, you know, like it the first week without him was the hardest. You don't realize how many little changes or compromises you make to your normal life to accommodate a senior pet. He was getting up two to three times a night to go out. And I had a doggy door, but I'd close it because um I didn't want him to get stuck outside. And so two to three times a night, I was getting up to let him out the doggy door and make sure he came back in. And so, like, getting an actual full night's sleep was massive change. But I I also know, like, this is such a random small thing. But the first time I was making my lunch and I cut up an apple, I I turned with a piece and there was nobody there. And I turned because it was habit, because he would sit there and wait, because I cut my apples like with just four, so like I make a square out of the core, and then I cut the corners of the square and give him those little slivers. And so I had turned there's nobody to give it to. Um, and so it's those small little changes to your daily life that you just do so second nature that you you don't even know you do them until you do it, and it's different. He had just, you know, shown up in this dream. It was weird. The dream my mom, my sister, and I were shopping, and I was like, Where's Cheerio? And she's like, I thought you had him. I was like, No, you had him. And then it turned out like whatever store we were at had like a kennel. And so I went over there and I'm like looking at the dogs, and he was right there in the bottom row on the left. I was like, I'm here to pick up Cheerio. And they're like, Well, I don't know if we can release him because like it's after hours, like you might have to come back tomorrow. I was like, No, like I'm here now. Like, he doesn't like other dogs. Like, can I just take him home? And they're like, Well, do you have proof that he's yours? And I was like, Well, yeah, I have all these pictures, and I pulled up my phone, but I had to scroll and scroll and scroll. And I was like, That's weird. Like, why am I? And then it's like when I woke up, I realized it's because all the pictures I have of him, I do have to scroll and scroll for. And I showed it to him, and they're like, Yeah, that's the same dog. So they released it, and we ended up, you know, just originally we were walking through the store, and then somehow we were in this really green, grassy park, and we just went on a walk, and you know, I was like, hey, buddy, and um, it was really nice. And I woke up and I needed to get ready for work. And Chowder, she always sleeps under my bed. Jury's bed is still next to my bed. Sometimes she's on it, but most of the time she's under my bed. I was like, come on, buddy, we gotta go. And I just like froze because that's not a name I have ever used with her, ever. That's what I call him. Like, if for her, she's squirt, you know. Like, I just but like I was like, oh my god. And I looked in the mirror and I just burst into tears, and I made it to work, and I, you know, we started milking, and I just I lost it again. I just started crying, and my boss was like, Are you okay? And I was like, No, and told him about it, and I mean he was like, Oh, you know, he felt bad, and all day I had just been I felt really emotional about the dream because it felt so real, and the first time like I had hoped and wished and like prayed that like I could see him again, you know, like in any any capacity, and he was he was there. I felt compelled to put it together in a post for the internet because I didn't part of me was like, oh my god, people are gonna think I'm crazy, you know, like oh, she saw a dog in her dream, whatever. But I was like, I feel like dog people will get it because I think we're all the same. And I was floored by how many people understood where I was coming from, and it just made me feel really better about being so emotional over a dream. There were a lot of people that got it, and I was also incredibly touched by the number of people that wanted to tell me about their dogs, you know. Um, there is another woman in the comments that said that her first dog ever was an English setter. Her dad worked for the railroad, and this woman was giving them away for free because she couldn't sell them, and he snuck it home in his coat on the train. And she taught, she was like, uh that was 41 years ago. Would you have me bawling at my computer this morning? So it was just like those small little things like that that were like we all get it, we're all together. Um, this is a shared feeling and experience. And then, like, there are people that were like, I want my like, I hope that my dog comes and visits me. Like, I and I feel like yes, dreams can just be dreams, but if in any way or whatever, that it's a place where the barriers between the wake egg world and any other realm are softer, and you know, like you can be visited by those people. Um, it just it brought a lot of comfort.

SPEAKER_01 37:00

When you think of Cheerio now, when he pops into your head, tell me what you think of. When I think of him now, there's just a lot of love.

SPEAKER_02 37:11

I just think he was so consistent and so present and always found such joy and such little things, you know.

SPEAKER_03 37:23

You can only take that and channel it into the next one and try to make sure that the life you're providing now is just as fulfilling and good, and you know, learn from things in the past and try to make every dog's life just as good.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

What did he teach you about this life?

SPEAKER_03 37:46

That it doesn't matter what you go through or where you are, it's who's with you that makes the difference. Times are gonna be hard, times are gonna be good, people are gonna come in and out of your life, but the people and animals and things like that that really matter are gonna be there through every season of it.

SPEAKER_01 38:14

If there is an afterlife where we get to be with our pets again and you get to see Cheerio again, and he's waiting for you, what will you say to him when you first see him?

SPEAKER_00 38:28

I missed you. I missed you so much.

SPEAKER_01 38:37

Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, please like and subscribe and share with your friends. If you have a dead pet that you'd like to share, please send an email to deadpets official at gmail.com. Dead Pets is a wild media industries production. It is written and hosted by me, Elise Wilde. Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened. Anatole France.