To have known the love of a dog is an honour in itself. They fill voids, craters and abysses, some even unknown to ourselves. These totems of unconditional love and loyalty don’t just share our living rooms but live as well. Alas, their lives are too short.
Anyone who has had pets knows that when the time comes, which eventually does, no matter how hard you try to keep its cruel hands away, you can only grieve over what you once held so dear.
We have compiled a list of dog loss quotes to help those who are mourning their beloved pets find some comfort in these words. If you’ve landed on this page because of a recent loss, our deepest sympathies to you.
We hope the below dog loss quotes console and comfort those who have recently lost their furry best friend.
Dog loss quotes | RIP dog quotes
1. “Sometimes losing a pet is more painful than losing a human because in the case of the pet, you were not pretending to love it.” – Amy Sedaris
2. “If there is a heaven, it’s certain our animals are to be there. Their lives become so interwoven with our own, it would take more than an archangel to detangle them.” – Pam Brown
3. “It is amazing how much love and laughter they bring into our lives and even how much closer we become with each other because of them.” – John Grogan
4. “His ears were often the first thing to catch my tears.” ― Elizabeth Barrett
5. “Sorrow is how we learn to love. Your heart isn’t breaking. It hurts because it’s getting larger. The larger it gets, the more love it holds.” ― Rita Mae Brown
6. “People who really appreciated animals always asked their names.” ― Lilian Jackson Braun
7. “If a dog has brightened your life
and every day
silently accepted
your tears
without judgement
snuggled with you
forgiven your faults,
and loved you unconditionally,
then you know what a gift
dogs are to this world. ” ― Anonymous
8. “And they all said ‘I’m sorry for your loss,’ as if you were someone who could ever be taken from me.” ― Robert Brault
9. “To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.” ― Thomas Campbell
Jaspreet, who lost her furry pal Freddie three years ago, shares her pain:
Having a furry friend like Freddie made for the happiest days of my life. I am sure everyone would agree that there isn’t no pain like losing a pet. The day he left, my heart forgot how to go on without him. For others, he was “Just a dog” but for me, he was my companion through all the tides of time. So often, I sit alone and think about that day when he left us. April 7, 2013. Three years have passed and I still cannot understand the reason why he didn’t come home that day, like any other day. What really happened that day? No one knows about that story. All these unanswered stories died that day when he left us. The way I used to smile when I saw his shining eyes, those shiny eyes that used to fill my heart with happiness.
Those tears streamed down my eyes when he’d sit on my lap and I’d share my secrets with him. Everyone thinks he died that day but I still feel him. May be with him gone – my smile, my faith towards the almighty has gone too. Everyone keeps saying he will never come back. Yeah!! He will never but I have faith he is watching me over at each and every step of life, like sun rays do in the days and like stars at night. What I do know is when I die, he will be waiting for me at the gates of heaven. For now, I shall wait to connect with him again, feel his presence again and ask him, “why did you go?”
10. “One lives in the hope of becoming a memory.” ― Antonio Porchia
11. “He is my other eyes that can see above the clouds; my other ears that hear above the winds. He is the part of me that can reach out into the sea. He has told me a thousand times over that I am his reason for being; by the way he rests against my leg; by the way, he thumps his tail at my smallest smile; by the way, he shows his hurt when I leave without taking him. (I think it makes him sick with worry when he is not along to care for me.) When I am wrong, he is delighted to forgive. When I am angry, he clowns to make me smile. When I am happy, he is joy unbounded. When I am a fool, he ignores it. When I succeed, he brags. Without him, I am only another man. With him, I am all-powerful. He is loyalty itself. He has taught me the meaning of devotion. With him, I know a secret comfort and a private peace. He has brought me understanding where before I was ignorant. His head on my knee can heal my human hurts. His presence by my side is protection against my fears of dark and unknown things. He has promised to wait for me… whenever… wherever – in case I need him. And I expect I will – as I always have. He is just my dog.”
― Gene Hill
12. “I have sometimes thought of the final cause of dogs having such short lives and I am quite satisfied it is in compassion to the human race; for if we suffer so much in losing a dog after an acquaintance of ten or twelve years, what would it be if they were to live double that time? The misery of keeping a dog is his dying so soon. But, to be sure, if he lived for fifty years and then died, what would become of me?” ― Sir Walter Scott
13. “Dogs…do not ruin their sleep worrying about how to keep the objects they have, and to obtain the objects they have not. There is nothing of value they have to bequeath except their love and their faith.” ― Eugene O’Neill
14. “Unlike some people who have experienced the loss of an animal, I did not believe, even for a moment, that I would never get another. I did know full well that there were just too many animals out there in need of homes for me to take what I have always regarded as the self-indulgent road of saying the heartbreak of the loss of an animal was too much ever to want to go through with it again.
To me, such an admission brought up the far more powerful admission that all the wonderful times you had with your animal were not worth the unhappiness at the end.” ― Cleveland Amory
15. “People leave imprints on our lives, shaping who we become in much the same way that a symbol is pressed into the page of a book to tell you who it comes from. Dogs, however, leave paw prints on our lives and our souls, which are as unique as fingerprints in every way.” ― Ashly Lorenzana
16. “If I have any beliefs about immortality, it is that certain dogs I have known will go to heaven, and very, very few persons. ” ― James Thurber
17.
18. “A good dog never dies, he always stays,
he walks beside you on crisp autumn days
when frost is on the fields and winter’s drawing near,
his head within our hand in his old way.”
– Anonymous
19.
20. A Dog for Jesus
(Where dogs go when they die)
I wish someone had given Jesus a dog.
As loyal and loving as mine.
To sleep by His manger and gaze in His eyes
And adore Him for being divine.
As our Lord grew to manhood His faithful dog,
Would have followed Him all through the day.
While He preached to the crowds and made the sick well
And knelt in the garden to pray.
It is sad to remember that Christ went away.
To face death alone and apart.
With no tender dog following close behind,
To comfort its Master’s Heart.
And when Jesus rose on that Easter morn,
How happy He would have been,
As His dog kissed His hand and barked its delight,
For The One who died for all men.
Well, the Lord has a dog now, I just sent Him mine,
The old pal so dear to me.
And I smile through my tears on this first day alone,
Knowing they’re in eternity.
Day after day, the whole day through,
Wherever my road inclined,
Four feet said, “Wait, I’m coming with you!”
And trotted along behind.
– Rudyard Kipling
21. The Rainbow Bridge
“Just this side of heaven is a place called Rainbow Bridge. When an animal dies that has been especially close to someone here, that pet goes to Rainbow Bridge.
There are meadows and hills for all of our special friends so they can run and play together. There is plenty of food, water and sunshine, and our friends are warm and comfortable. All the animals who had been ill and old are restored to health and vigour; those who were hurt or maimed are made whole and strong again, just as we remember them in our dreams of days and times gone by. The animals are happy and content, except for one small thing; they each miss someone very special to them, who had to be left behind. They all run and play together, but the day comes when one suddenly stops and looks into the distance. His bright eyes are intent; His eager body quivers. Suddenly he begins to run from the group, flying over the green grass, his legs carrying him faster and faster. You have been spotted, and when you and your special friend finally meet, you cling together in a joyous reunion, never to be parted again.
The happy kisses rain upon your face; your hands again caress the beloved head, and you look once more into the trusting eyes of your pet, so long gone from your life but never absent from your heart. Then you cross Rainbow Bridge together.” – Anonymous
22. “Near this spot are deposited the remains of one who possessed
beauty without vanity, strength without insolence, courage without
ferocity, and all the virtues of man, without his vices.” – Lord Byron
23. Don’t Cry for me When I’m Gone
So, though I give you all my heart,
The time will come when we must part.
But all around you, you will see,
Creatures that speak to you of me;
A tired horse, a hunted thing,
A sparrow with a broken wing …
Pity – and help (I know you will)
And somehow, I will be with you still;
And I shall know, although I’m gone,
The love I gave you lingers on.
– Anonymous
24. Pet Heaven
There’s a bridge beyond the rainbow
That God prepared with care
So when our pets must leave us
We’ll know that they are there.
It is a special sanctum
Where they can rest and play,
Knowing we will claim them
Again some joyous day.
Our bond will be renewed
Just as it was before;
The undying love of a pet
You cannot ask for more.
I pray for such a Heaven
For in my heart I know
Wherever He does take them –
That’s where I want to go.
– C. David Hay
25. “There is sorrow enough in the natural way
From men and women to fill our day;
But when we are certain of sorrow in store
Why do we always arrange for more?
Brothers and sisters, I bid you beware
Of giving your heart to a dog to tear.”
– Rudyard Kipling
26. To call him a dog hardly seems to do him justice,
though inasmuch as he had four legs, a tail, and barked,
I admit he was, to all outward appearances. But to those who
knew him well, he was a perfect gentleman.
– Hermione Gingold
27. “I guess you don’t really own a dog, you rent them,
and you have to be thankful that you had a long lease.”
– Joe Garagiola
28. It came to me that every time I lose a dog
they take a little piece of my heart with them
and every new dog who comes into my life gifts
me with a piece of their heart. If I live long
enough, all of the components of my heart will
be a dog and I will become as generous and as
loving as they are.
––Anonymous
29. Pawprints Left By You
You no longer greet me,
As I walk through the door.
You’re not there to make me smile,
To make me laugh anymore.
Life seems quiet without you,
You were far more than a pet.
You were a family member, a friend
. . . a loving soul I’ll never forget.
It will take time to heal –
For the silence to go away.
I still listen for you,
And miss you every day.
You were such a great companion,
Constant, loyal and true.
My heart will always wear,
the pawprints left by you.
– Teri Harrison
30. “There are some who think it’s foolish to weep, Over a cherished pet in eternal sleep. But those poor souls are truly blind, for they know not of the creature kind. But you who devoted so many years, deserve the time to shed those tears. Over the loss of your furry friend, whose life on earth has come to an end. And may the tears that you now weep, sow loving memories forever to keep.”
– Anonymous
31. “When we adopt a dog or any pet, we know it is going to end with us having to say goodbye, but we still do it. And we do it for a very good reason: They bring so much joy and optimism and happiness. They attack every moment of every day with that attitude.”– Bruce Cameron
32. “When you adopt a dog, you have a lot of very good days and one very bad day.” – W. Bruce Cameron
33. “Dogs die. But dogs live, too. Right up until they die, they live. They live brave, beautiful lives. They protect their families. And love us, and make our lives a little brighter, and they don’t waste time being afraid of tomorrow.” – Dan Gemeinhart
34. If I had known that on that day our time was near the end
I would have done things differently, my forever friend.
I would have stayed right next to you deep into the night
but I thought I’d see you in the early morning light.And so I said “Good night” to you as I walked in through the door never thinking of the time when I’d see you no more. But if I had known that on that day our time was at the end I would have done things so differently, my forever friend.
– Sally Evans (written for Shoo-Fly)
Complement it with this heartwarming comic about a dog’s life. May this collection of dog loss quotes, sayings and poems about our four-legged friends help to comfort a bereaved soul.
Am closely associated with an online group of pet parents whose babies crossed Rainbow Bridge. Loved the collection. And was happy to see this one “People who really appreciated animals always asked their names.” ― Lilian Jackson Braun.
I do that a lot of times even to dogs I find on street. Passer-bys must have thought I am crazy but i indeed do ask, ‘little one, what’s your name?’ and sincerely expect an answer. A mere wag of tail in response to this says so much.
Dear Jock. I asked you before you died if you would leave me your soul. What a beautiful boy my best friend. Faithful constant companion. Loyal non judgemental forgiving and without a horrible thought in your mind,you loved me more than anyone human ever could and I miss you so badly that I can’t get passed the emptiness more than a year after you died. I wish I could be with you now. I could only hope to have as beautiful a soul as you had snd to love and trust as you did snd and most importantly to forgive and give as you did,
dont have words to describe how sad it made me feel even though my jerry is still with me.
Eddy,
The doctors said you just have a week left with you.I wish you could stay for a little more time, a little more time to hug you tight until you start snoring and dreaming about your yummy carrots in the refrigerator.I know you tried your best to recover.
You have always been the most innocent dog ever with no aggression and countless love.Dad won’t woke up at 4 in the morning to take you for a walk.Mom on the other hand ,half slept, won’t prepare breakfast for you.And neither will I get a hug before leaving the house.The children in the streets with whom you played were asking about you and were missing playing with you.
Hey champ,You were great and always will be.I will be with you till your last breath & love you till mine.
I owe you alot!
I love you Surya ❤️