I Feel So Guilty About My Dog's Death Options

[ToBeFrank]

I lost my 7 year old Boston Terrier, Sophie, on Friday night. It was a horrible accident, and I am guilt stricken and distraught. I am deeply saddened that she is not with me anymore, but the image I keep seeing in my mind of her death is torturous. I dropped her off at a friend's place because I was heading out of town early Saturday morning. Around 8pm on Friday they called me saying they couldn't find her and she got out when they left the front door open. I spent all of Friday night and Saturday morning combing their neighborhood for her. Mid day Saturday they called me and told me they found her in the pool. She had drowned. Sophie had such a gentle heart and was scared of her own shadow. It is killing me knowing that she spent her last moments terrified and fighting for her life. Even though I wasn't there, I can't get the horrific images of how I know she would have fought out of my mind. I also can't get rid of the image of her lifeless body and eyes when I picked her up to take her to get cremated. I don't want to remember my beloved Sophie like this. How do I get over this?

[Trulie]

I am sorry to hear about your Sophie. You cannot beat yourself up for something that happened when you were not there. I know it is very difficult and I too felt very guilty when my Pepper passed away. The guilt was awful. I blamed myself for so many things. I kept going on about what I could've done different. I kept picturing Pepper over and over in he last moments as you are. All I can tell you is that I read some very good books on Pet Loss and even if you look up articles about grieving these articles can help too. It also helps to talk to friends and family. I still feel awful if I think about it today. I try to think of her as a happy dog and not dwell on her last day. The guilt is not there constantly anymore. I put a link to my story below if you want to read it.
http://lightning-strike.com/forum/index.ph...7&hl=pepper
There is a process to greiving and guilt is one of the processes. I hope you will look up some books or articles as I really felt these helped me. It is a very hard thing to lose your pet.