Hello everyone.

It has been months since I've been on this site and one year and four months since my Jordan died. I just had to write and talk about this...

Yesterday, two seperate people that I haven't seen in over a year asked me about him. Of course, they felt sad when I told them that he had died.

Last night I was really missing him and today, just about an hour ago, I was out for a walk. I saw a black lab (like Jordan) running on a soccer field. Now, I've seen many labs since he died but I couldn't take my eyes off of this one. I kept thinking how similar she looked to my boy. (You know the subtle differences between dogs of the same breed that make your dog yours.)

The owner said, "She's very friendly, if you'd like to pet her." I scooched down and she came over to me. I got choked up. Her stature and was a little smaller but the eyes and nose were SO similar. I rubbed my hands over her and loved the silky familiar feeling that I have missed so much. I told the man that she reminded me very much of my boy. I asked where he got her and when he mentioned the breeder they got her from and I nearly fell over...It was where we got Jordan! No wonder they look so similar. It drew me closer to this dog and I kept petting her, wanting her to turn around so I could look at her face, somehow thinking this dog was a part of Jordan. Of course this dog was more interested in running on the field and soon took off. I came back home and cried and cried. This other dog reminded me so much of him. Wow. I am surprised that I had this intense of a reaction. The grief still sneaks up on me. Thanks for listening. I LOVE YOU JORDAN!

Dear anin,

I can only imagine how sad you must have felt after seeing this beautiful dog. I had a similar experience when we were camping this weekend. I made friends with 2 big dogs. They didn't look anything like my Tico who I lost last week. But I just had to touch them and pet them and feel their beautiful heads. And this gave me a tiny bit of satisfaction and tremendous sadness that neither one was MY dog.

Thanks for sharing your experience. I found it took me 3 whole years before I could remember my beautiful little calico cat without hurting.

peace
Cathi

Hi there Anin-

I think I can understand how sad this would have made you feel... The freaky thing is that I had the same experience today too. While walking down to the shops, I saw two dogs tied outside waiting for their owner. I literally jumped when I noticed these dogs- from behind one of them looked almost exactly like my old border collie! He was sitting in exactly the same spot my girl used to sit with me when we would go down to the shops, too. And, of course, I had to go torment myself further by saying hello to this collie. He had a larger streak of white running down his nose, but otherwise, it could have been my dog. This guy was about the right age that Jackie would have been now, so now I wonder if this was one of her relatives?

I would really, really have liked to hug him, but I saw the same suspicious look in his eyes that my girl always reserved for strangers too. So I had to settle with talking to him from a distance.

I've only twice seen a dog that resembled my Jackie.