Published on: Monday, February 20, 2012

By Alexis A. Goring

Prince George’s County Animal Management Division is offering a free workshop Tuesday for pet owners suffering the loss of their beloved animal.

The workshop is slated for 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the community room at the Prince George’s County Animal Service Facility in Upper Marlboro.

“One of the reasons that we decided to (offer) the workshop was because we saw the need with so many families from time to time having to bring their pets into the shelter and having to put them down because of old age, and we just (saw) the grieving and for so many years we asked what can be done for the grieving of the pet. A pet is like a member of your family, it’s like losing one a child,” said Rodney Taylor, associate director of Prince George’s County Animal Management Division.

“It’s my hope that after the workshop, that losing your pet, your family member, will not be a negative experience for long. Certainly, there is a grieving period for anything when you lose (someone) that you love. But it is our hope that after the workshop, you will have more of an understanding and that you will again, smile when you talk about your pet,” Taylor added.

Prince George’s County Animal Management Division has partnered with Capital Caring to provide this workshop.

“First and foremost, I’m a pet owner. I love pets, and working in the field of grief, I see how grieving over the loss of a pet a lot of times isn’t validated by our society and by people,” said Cathy Cooper, a licensed grief counselor for Capital Caring, who will host the workshop.

Cooper, in the last four years, has had to euthanize three pets — two dogs and a cat.

“It’s just very painful,” she said. “Having to make that decision was painful, being around their environment without them there, is painful. It hurts just as much as if I’d lost a human friend; it hurts to lose a pet. You cry a lot. It’s something that you don’t get over it, you get through it and learn to adjust to it, but the pain is still there.”

The purpose of the workshop is to bring healing and to help the pet owners walk through their grief, Cooper said.

“The main goal, first and foremost, is to validate the pain and validate what they feel through this because this is a major loss and everything that they’re thinking and feeling needs to be validated, and they need to know that it’s OK,” Cooper said.

“So we really try to understand. I do a lot of education on what they’re thinking and feeling, normal symptoms of grief … so they can begin to understand what they have lost. And then we talk about some ways to help them better cope,” Cooper continued.

At the end of the workshop, the pet owners may participate in a memorial for their pets.

“We light a candle and everybody gets to light a special candle and say something to their pet, or if they don’t feel comfortable with that, then just lighting the candle in honor of the pet and what the pet meant to them,” Cooper said.

“And I like to use candles and light because it gives off the light like for pet lover that’s what pets are to us — they are lights in our life.”

Residents can register for the workshop by calling 301-780-7200.