Non-motoring > dog cremation;-( Miscellaneous
Thread Author: devonite Replies: 46

 dog cremation;-( - devonite
Our old lad is on his run-down sadly, but when his time eventually comes it raises the question of what do we do with him. We don't have enough garden at the house to bury him in the garden, and the allotment is only rented, so we don't want to leave him there for future renters to dig up!

One of our friends has had 3 of his golden retrievers cremated(via the vet's) and has them at home in nice wooden caskets, (not my personal cup of tea tho') I'd still prefer burial for him in one of his favorite places. however, I went to have a word with said friend yesterday and he opened one of the boxes to show me the contents, needless to say (I didn't though!) the contents no-way resembled ashes, in fact they looked suspiciously the same as the bags of coral sand that I used to buy for my marine aquarium - they were white, granular, completely uniform in size and shape and looked to be about 5lb's of them! - I strongly suspect all is not doggy! and I'm not paying £300 for something that isn't my best mate!

Question is, how can I be sure we are really getting our mate's ashes back, and any other idea's about how or where we would be allowed to bury him on what would probably be public ground.
Ta - any idea's?
 dog cremation;-( - Duncan
Don't the vets dispose of the remains, if asked?
 dog cremation;-( - devonite
Yes probably, but both of us would rather have him somewhere we could occasionally visit! - after all he is a family member ;-)
 dog cremation;-( - CGNorwich
So called “ ashes “are in fact the bones that are ground mechanically after cremation. Texture is normally course sand/gravel.
 dog cremation;-( - Zero
When living things die, they live in in our memories,

Bones in the garden, or ground up coral reef are inanimate objects
And have nothing to do with the previous life.

Needless to say the inanimate remains of my current dog will be left with the vet to dispose of, and memories of my current dog, who has been very special, will be a tattoo of its nose on my left wrist, as there is where it's spent most of our sporting activities together

Indeed we are currently at a dog show in Kevin's Manor, Dummer
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 8 Sep 19 at 13:19
 dog cremation;-( - Bobby
Our last dog was cremated and we have it’s cask.

Original emotional plans were to bury in garden, or down the local country park or scatter his ashes down his favourite walk.

He is still in his cask, in its original “gift bag” and had been moved from pillar to post around the house and is currently down the side of the couch.

I did try and get lid off at one point but seems to be sealed. If scattering ashes, is probably need to drill holes in it and shake like a pepper pot!

With hindsight, exactly as zero says.
 dog cremation;-( - CGNorwich
I’ve always buried dead pets.

1, It’s cheaper

2. It’s greener and returns fertility to the soil.
 dog cremation;-( - Robin O'Reliant
What happens to the coffin during a human cremation, is it burnt with the corpse or are they removed first?
 dog cremation;-( - CGNorwich
Do you think they tip you out? All burnt, no empty boxes!
 dog cremation;-( - Robin O'Reliant
So granddad's ashes are 50% chipboard?
Last edited by: Robin O'Reliant on Sun 8 Sep 19 at 16:26
 dog cremation;-( - Duncan
>> What happens to the coffin during a human cremation, is it burnt with the corpse
>> or are they removed first?

You don't have to use a coffin, a shroud is sufficient.
 dog cremation;-( - devonite
Now that's a good idea! - I like the idea of a tattoo! have to think about that one - Ta!
 dog cremation;-( - Kevin
>Indeed we are currently at a dog show in Kevin's Manor, Dummer

Just read this.

You should have let me know. Good weather and The Queen does a good Sunday lunch. Dog friendly too.
 dog cremation;-( - Kevin
It would also have been good to see how much your obedience has improved since she took over your training.
 dog cremation;-( - Duncan

>> You should have let me know. Good weather and The Queen does a good Sunday
>> lunch. Dog friendly too.


I have heard that The Queen does a decent Sunday lunch too.

Failing that there is a Little Chef at Popham, not too far away.
 dog cremation;-( - Zero

>> I have heard that The Queen does a decent Sunday lunch too.
>>
>> Failing that there is a Little Chef at Popham, not too far away.
>

You silly old sod, Little Chef are no more.
 dog cremation;-( - Duncan

>> You are a wonderful man, but I am afraid Little Chef are no more.
>>

How long has that been?

Quote from website

"Little Chef Popham is probably the most famous Little Chef around ever since we reopened our doors following our 2011 refurbishment. We’re here to provide a warm welcome, great service and we serve the best Olympic breakfast this side of Hampshire!

Stop in and give us a try when you’re on a family day out to Marwell Wildlife, Basingstoke Aquadrome or the Watercress Line.

Address

A303 West, Popham, Winchester, Hampshire SO21 3SP

Telephone: 01256 398490
 dog cremation;-( - Bromptonaut
>> You silly old sod, Little Chef are no more.

Closed most of their standalone sites; those round here are now nearly all Buddies American Diner.

Most that remain are co-located with Travel Lodges.

www.littlechef.co.uk/
Last edited by: Bromptonaut on Mon 9 Sep 19 at 09:33
 dog cremation;-( - Zero
None remain, last one closed in October 2018.

Your Little Chef Popham is now a Starbucks.

The website is an old backup that has somehow appeared.
Last edited by: Zero on Mon 9 Sep 19 at 09:36
 dog cremation;-( - Zero
>> None remain, last one closed in October 2018.

Managed to get my last Olympic Breakfast down my gob on the 7th March 2017, Trowbridge.
 dog cremation;-( - Bromptonaut
>> The website is an old backup that has somehow appeared.

The fact that it's flagged as insecure (ie not https) should have been a clue.....
 dog cremation;-( - Manatee
Good bit of thread drift.

In the 80s when the children were children we had about a dozen years of gite holidays and would typically take overnight ferries between Portsmouth and Cherbourg/Caen/St Malo. We looked forward to the Little Chef halt on the A34 at Newbury.

I hadn't realized they'd gone completely. Can't really complain as they hadn't had any revenue from me since at least 2004 when We stopped and Marston Moretaine and found that the Little Chef did Harry Ramsden's branded fish and chips. They were nothing like Harry Ramsden's, needless to say.

I didn't know either until I just read the Wikipedia entry that LC was started by the Sprite caavan man, Sam Alper, in the 1950s.

From here, looking back to those long A road journeys to the south coast, Scotland or the West country, those trips were much more of an event and part of a holiday than a few hours belt down a succession of motorways.
 dog cremation;-( - VxFan
>> Good bit of thread drift.

Not really. I'm sure there is a restaurant or two somewhere in the world that has dead dog on the menu.
 dog cremation;-( - Zero
>> >Indeed we are currently at a dog show in Kevin's Manor, Dummer
>>
>> Just read this.
>>
>> You should have let me know. Good weather and The Queen does a good Sunday
>> lunch. Dog friendly too.

It was Dummer Down Farm, it has a microbrewery on site. Probably the finest dog show in the world.
 dog cremation;-( - Duncan

>> It was Dummer Down Farm, it has a microbrewery on site. Probably the finest dog
>> show in the world.
>>

Fergy wasn't around, was she? That's her neck of the woods. Toe suck? Anyone?
 dog cremation;-( - Kevin
>Fergy wasn't around, was she?

It used to be a complete PiTA whenever she was around. You couldn't get in the pub for all the redtop reporters on expense accounts. Same when Tara Parma Ham lived in the village.
 dog cremation;-( - stan10
Might these fit the bill ?

www.dignitypetcrem.co.uk/

I have them lined up for when our time comes
 dog cremation;-( - devonite
unfortunately distance is the problem unless they have a Lancashire branch - I'll have to make enquiries thanks.
 dog cremation;-( - Robbie34
>> unfortunately distance is the problem unless they have a Lancashire branch - I'll have to
>> make enquiries thanks.
>>

There must be a Lancashire branch. My Cocker Spaniel was PTS last year, he was just seven and had cancer, and the vet arranged for his cremation. I live in south west Lancashire and I think the crematorium is somewhere in east Lancs.

All of my other dogs are buried in the garden, but age and infirmity have taken their toll. Besides, it was November and not conducive to digging a hole.
 dog cremation;-( - Fullchat
Make your inquiries before the dreaded day to find a suitable facility.

I wouldn't let the vet be the middle man - no way! If you think they treat your pet with dignity once you are out of sight you will be disappointed.

The bodies go into a skip until they are collected. I've seen it.

I can't vouch for the identity of the remains which are returned all nicely packaged.

If you can and of course have the strength (emotionally) you can deliver to a pet crematorium and have the deed done whilst you are there.

Having said all that when we had our Retriever put to sleep on the kitchen floor the Vet (and Nurse - it seems they have to do home visits double crewed for euthanasia) asked if we wished them to organise the cremation. I said I would sort it out the next day but was seriously overruled
by the kids who had been present and where understandably upset. So the dog was carried in a blanket and placed in the rear of the vets car all very dignified. I knew its fate, and carry some guilt, but to this day have never told them.

We do have a really good pets crematorium not far away and that was my plan.

Of course it all comes with not a little cost.
Last edited by: Fullchat on Sun 8 Sep 19 at 20:53
 dog cremation;-( - Zero
>> Make your inquiries before the dreaded day to find a suitable facility.
>>
>> I wouldn't let the vet be the middle man - no way! If you think
>> they treat your pet with dignity once you are out of sight you will be
>> disappointed.

But its dead, its not the dog you had, its merely a hairy bag full of rapidly decaying mush. The dignity comes in how and when you sent your pet over rainbow bridge.

The dog you had is now within you, in your memories*, your laughs, your moments of horror** your photos, your rosettes, trophies, holidays, days out.

When it sleeps on your feet, jumps in your lap on the first strike of lightening, when it asks you to do something, stands by the door with the lead in its mouth,

*when it comes out of the woods wearing a dead badger as an overcoat for example (Your dead dog is now a smelly overcoat another dog would like to wear), the day it savaged a load of baby fluffy ducks, raided a families picnic, stole a Childs bread it was feeding the ducks with, broke your finger, ripped your rotator cuff, drew blood, chewed a wasps nest.


None of this the dog thats just died. Its not the dog you spent 72 hours with never less than 10 yards apart.

A body is at the end of the day, a container. You chuck empty ones away.

 dog cremation;-( - CGNorwich
You don’t have to throw them away.

www.thegetstuffed.co.uk/cats-and-dogs/
 dog cremation;-( - Lygonos
I agree with Zero.

It's the same way I feel about humans too - graveyards? Why?
 dog cremation;-( - Dieselboy
Suppose it's for the living, really. Somewhere they can go and feel they are close to their loved one.
 dog cremation;-( - Duncan

>> But its dead...................

>> A body is at the end of the day, a container.

In broad terms, I agree with Zero.

They have gone. Human or animal. In principle it's the same. However, rightly, or wrongly, we are all different, some people choose to act differently.
 dog cremation;-( - Falkirk Bairn
10 years ago I lost a Cairn Terrier -a wonderful dog - much better behaved than the 2 other Cairns I have had (they were boys). She was 13 and on advice of the vet we tried for a week (& £350) to see if anything was possible.

Alas, we thought over the weekend about delaying matters but I took her on the Monday for her final appointment. I held her collar and gazed at her whilst she was given her injection. A kiss on the forehead and left by the side door - I had paid up front for the injection & disposal.

The disposal aspect does not bother me then or now. As with humans once you are dead the actual body was not my dog.
 dog cremation;-( - Bromptonaut
>> Question is, how can I be sure we are really getting our mate's ashes back,
>> and any other idea's about how or where we would be allowed to bury him
>> on what would probably be public ground.
>> Ta - any idea's?

The first bit, are the ashes my dog, should be resolved by a bit of basic research with pet crems and a look at reviews.

No personal experience but daughter's in laws have had dogs for a bit.

Their first was a Dalmatian. Not a small breed and there's was a big lad - too big to show. He had to be put down about five years ago. Even in their quite big garden you'd have struggled to bury him and digging a hole big enough and deep enough anywhere would have been a Herculean task.

He was cremated and came back in a surprisingly small wooden casket with his name and life dates engraved on it. Family duly buried the ashes and planted a sapling in the local recovered quarry where he went for walkies most of his life.

IIRC there's an 'in memoriam, plaque by the growing tree.
 dog cremation;-( - Duncan
Polesden Lacey Pet Cemetery

www.geograph.org.uk/photo/2116301
 dog cremation;-( - Ambo
For a cremation you an specify a green, wicker "coffin", just as for humans. Your pet's remains would be delivered to you in a package so small it could surely be buried in some corner of your garden.

Our vet administered a lethal injection to our cat in our home, waited while it expired peacefully in its favourite chair and took the body away for cremation. All very civilised (and expensive).
 dog cremation;-( - CGNorwich
Shame we won’t allow the same peaceful and dignified death to humans isn’t it?
 dog cremation;-( - MD
We've two Labs in the garden keeping each other company. We always have the Vet to home and he arrives wielding enough stuff to kill a horse. Within 2-3 seconds of administering it the Pooch has gone. He then helps me to the graveside and then I say goodbye on my own laying the dawg to rest on a blanket. You can guess the rest. Usually about £50.00 Decent no nonsense chap.

The last Pooch s couple of years ago enjoyed a ruddy great raw Sirloin steak just prior. I miss them all dreadfully.
 dog cremation;-( - sooty123
The OH's family use a small corner of a wood, that several dogs of their dogs have learnt picking up and flushing as a beaters dog, as a pet cemetery. Ours might well go there when the time comes.
 dog cremation;-( - No FM2R
My dogs are buried in a garden in a house that I own that will never be sold.

At the time it mattered to both me and my daughters to have them close. It was a comfort. These days it's just a thing.

However, I don't know what I would have done had it been in a house which I hadn't ne so sure would never be sold.

Last edited by: No FM2R on Mon 9 Sep 19 at 20:52
 dog cremation;-( - Bromptonaut
>> My dogs are buried in a garden in a house that I own that will
>> never be sold.

Odd story time.

Six or seven years ago 'The Quango' was being run down. Much of the rest of the wider Ministry had made it difficult to contact then except via web but we had a phone number. Result was we got all sorts of odd questions concerning, however remotely, the jurisdiction of the Lord Chancellor.

Taking those calls and working out where they needed signposting to was what, after a colleague suggested I had an aptitude for that sort of thing, led me to volunteer at Citizens Advice.

One query, my colleague Angela was quicker on the button that time the phone rang, involved somebody who'd buried their Granny in their garden. Now they wanted to move she had to follow so they needed a permit to exhume - one of the more esoteric of the Lord Chancellor's functions. We found out the phone number for relevant team and passed it on...
 dog cremation;-( - Kevin
Just watched a "feel good" program on 5. Dogs with Extraordinary Jobs. A Great Dane helping a young disabled girl, a Californian earthquake dog, a blind dog sniffing out illegal ivory in Africa and a Newfoundland training other dogs in Italy for water rescue.

Great comment from handler of earthquake dog was

"Handlers don't choose their dogs - they choose you. I used to walk through the kennels and Rocky would always look pleased to see me. One of the kennel guys said 'He's flirting with you'".
 dog cremation;-( - henry k
"Handlers don't choose their dogs - they choose you."
We had a talk by the boss of caninepartners.org.uk/

That was exactly what he told us.

The latest group of customers to get a dog are seated around a table and the dogs one by one enter the room and find a customer of their choice.

One big ex squaddie said he wanted a large dog like a lab to go to the pub with him.
He was chosen by quite a small dog and loved him to bits.

Some interesting pointers
caninepartners.org.uk/our-organisation/disability-etiquette/
 dog cremation;-( - Zero
"My dog chose me" is a physical impossibility , fairy tale & twee nonsense
Last edited by: Zero on Wed 11 Sep 19 at 11:38
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