AUTHOR HELPS PET OWNERS COPE WITH LOSS

"Fleas are, like the remainder of the universe, a divine mystery."

-- Anatole France

A friend's experience of receiving the cremated remains of her beloved terrier in a sandwich bag prompted Paul C. Dahm to write "The Rainbow Bridge," a book for pet lovers -- especially those coping with the loss of a pet.

The title refers to a bridge animals that have served man purportedly cross to reach their final resting place. References to the bridge can be found in Native American mythology, and Dear Abby once published a letter about the Rainbow Bridge pets and owners cross together "never again to be separated."

"I believe pets are spiritual beings, and if we have an afterlife they have an afterlife, and we'll see them there," Dahm says.

Animals, he says, deserve to be treated with respect both in life and death.

Dahm was in Selma, Ala., when Martin Luther King marched, he was arrested at the Chicago Democratic Convention in 1968 and he was one of the first males to join the National Organization for Women.

Now he's writing books -- the earlier "Riel and Tillie" is a protest against hunting -- "to raise people's consciousness about animals." He was in Cape Girardeau earlier in the week signing copies of his book at Barnes & Noble.

"The Rainbow Bridge" offers solace to anyone who has lost a pet. The Oregon resident says people need to grieve the loss of an animal as surely as they would the loss of a human loved one.

In the book, grief counselor Jane Nathanson says the loss of a pet can cause pain more intense than losing a friend or relative. "Our feelings are not conflicted toward our pets. We love them wholeheartedly and without reservation. No painful memories or frustrations cloud our feeling toward them ... Our love and our grief is pure."

Some veterinary schools offer grief therapy classes, Dahm says, but they are rare.

Dr. Linus Huck, an equine veterinarian in Jackson, didn't receive that training in school but says, "After 25 years of practice you develop a sense."

The attachment people have to their horses is no different than to a small animal, Huck says. "Horses are companion animals."

His daughter Martha, a rider of champion Tennessee walking horses, was 14 when she lost her first horse, Dusty, two years ago. She's still grieving, Huck says.

"She learned to ride on Dusty. He meant more to her than a lot of her champions."

Dusty has a grave and a gravestone on the Huck farm. Huck says that isn't an unusual memorial for people who love horses to provide.

Some horses live as long as 40 years and often have to be euthanized at the end of their lives.

"I talk to people and stress that they have taken care of the animal all its life," Huck says. "The final thing you can do is help him have a peaceful death."

He takes pride in the way he euthanizes a horse but says, "You never get used to it."

Dahm is a dog owner. Ruby is his fifth Welsh Corgi. His favorite was Bandy, who died 11 years ago. "I still miss her very much," he said. "I talk to her every day."

A former English teacher, Dahm plans to begin offering therapy for pet loss once his book tour is complete.

His book is an amalgam of philosophy and advice about pets, anecdotes about people's love for their pets, owners' experiences saying goodbye to their pets and animal quotes from well-known people.

"My little old dog," Edith Wharton wrote, "a heartbeat at my feet."

The prophet Mohammed said: "The animals are a people like ourselves and shall, when released from earthly pain, share the joys of heaven with man."