Passed dog's things?

[GipsyQueen]

Like the title says - what did you do with your passed dogs things? Gipsy has so much stuff and it's just sitting around in the basement, her collars and leashes are still in a little basket by the door, because no one can bare putting them away for good.

We're starting to prepare for new puppy though - and have no idea what to reuse, if anything (besides her crates that she never used, so it doesn't feel weird) But she had this beautiful basket with her pillow in it, for example, and we don't really want to reuse it because it was Gipsy's. She had it for over 10 years. On the other hand it's just sitting in the attik, and it will probably be too small anyways.
She also had a crap load of toys that's sitting downstairs.

 

[Cali Mae]

Indie wasn't a dog, but I have a few of her things that I plan on keeping forever and not reusing. I have her shoes, her leather halter, her stall nameplate, a section of tail hair (which is going to be made into a bracelet at one point) and her fuzzy zebra print halter all in her water bucket. I still have everything else, although out of all of it, I'm only keeping her winter blanket (which holds a lot of sentimental value for me) and grooming kit... which I refuse to use on any other horse.

I think in your case, I'd get a nice basket for her collars, leashes and some of her favourite toys... just as a nice keepsake. It's always so hard sorting through these types of things.

 

[Maxy24]

I kept Max's collar and leash. I think I'll always keep collars, but will probably reuse the leash in the future (I couldn't use his on Tucker anyway because the latch is too large for him). I also have one of his teddy bears, but we buried him with his favorite ones.

My uncle kept both of his dogs collars and has them draped over the side of framed photos of each, it's really nice.

 

[GipsyQueen]

I kept Max's collar and leash. I think I'll always keep collars, but will probably reuse the leash in the future (I couldn't use his on Tucker anyway because the latch is too large for him). I also have one of his teddy bears, but we buried him with his favorite ones.

My uncle kept both of his dogs collars and has them draped over the side of framed photos of each, it's really nice.

Yeah we had her favorite stuffy cremated with her because she loved that thing and wouldn't go anywhere without it

 

[milos_mommy]

I keep collars and maybe one favorite toy - not for new dogs, as keepsakes.

Everything else gets donated. I might keep toys or things that are too used for future dogs. Something special, like the basket/bed you described? I'm not really sure. I'd probably use it for the future puppy...or if I didn't want them to sleep in it because it seemed weird, use it to hold their toys or something? I'm not sure.

 

[MicksMom]

I packed toys up the day after we lost Mick. Some I gave away. Little by little, the toys I kept were brought out for Caleb. The bowls I just slid under the microwave cart until we brought Caleb home. His collar is in a memory box someone gave me along with a tennis ball and the Beannie Baby pig my friend gave him. The harness he wore for walks & therapy visits is in a curio table. His coat, favorite tug and volleyball are in a space saving bag in the closet (I couldn't bear to give Caleb the volleyball, and our son felt the same way about the tug). The Beannie Babies that he won, therapy dog bandana, tag and ID and the leash we did obedience with are in a shadow box.

 

[*blackrose]

Granted, my dogs don't have a lot of stuff, but I reuse almost everything. Their main collar is put away as a momento, but old collars, training collars, bowls, toys, dishes, leashes, beds, etc. are all kept for any current/future/foster dog.

I like using their old things. It's like they're giving something of themselves to the next generation.

 

[Southpaw]

Molly didn't have much stuff to begin with. We threw away her bed. We kept her collar and leash (only had one her whole life!) but I don't use them for anyone else.

 

[Snark]

Kept all the collars as keepsakes, Patch and Emily were buried with their favorite toys (Robbie, Sam, Holly and Abbey either didn't play with toys or didn't have a favorite). Beds, leashes, other toys are passed along - I still have my leather obedience leash I bought for Patch over 20 years ago and have used it with every dog in their basic obedience classes. Coats (in good shape) that I couldn't use because of size, were donated to a local rescue.

 

[Laurelin]

I actually used Nikki's collar for Ada since they were about the same size when we first found her. Then Ada busted it, which made me kind of sad. I still have it though. And Trey's. I use Trey's leash on occasion (usually a situation where I can't find a papillon leash).

I don't have much connection to my dog's 'things'. You can' ever see their collars so I get them cheap, non fancy collars.

Crates and stuff we re-use. I'm using Trey's crate for Summer's agility crate right now.

I love my pictures of them though.

 

[swabby]

All of mine have always been buried with their collars and tags on, favorite toys at their side and lying in their beds.

I feel like the one thing that is truly a dog's, is their collar. Of course puppy collars are used over and over again. The rest of the zillion toys, leashes and "whatnot" around the house have been accumulated through the years and hold no particular sentimental value to a particular dog. (I have learned that not all dog toys are created equal.) I am so blessed, my parents have a pet cemetery at their home, so all of my former pets are in a sense still together.

I know it is a very tough decision for everyone. You don't have to rush, these things take time.

I pray your new puppy brings you the kind of love and happiness Stormy has brought us, I don't know if we could have made it through losing Bandit without her.

((hugs))

 

[JessLough]

I haven't got a clue.

Collars are put away and will never be used again. I have a harness that she wore all of 2 times, so I think it will be reused...

Bowls are put away but will probably be reused. The bed is still laying there, the ferrets play on on it, and its too big to really put away. She didn't have many toys, thankfully.

 

[Saeleofu]

Toys, beds, crates, blankets - most of those we've always reused, but I've also lived in a multiple dog household most of the time, so they were never exclusively one dog's things. The surviving dog(s) continued to use them, and then the next dog started using them, and so on.

When my own two pass, I intend to keep their main Ella's Lead collars as keepsakes, not to be reused. I will probably keep Logan's working harness/vest as keepsakes as well. Everything else I will probably be okay reusing, but I'll find out when the time comes. Crates are one thing I will always reuse, as they're too expensive to throw out just because. The only exception to that is maybe the pop-up crates.

 

[GipsyQueen]

we haven't decided on bowls and things... gipsy had really nice ceramic bowls, on the other hand they are almost as old as she was , which seems like a good reason to get new ones and donate the old ones ;-)
her old basket will likely be too small anyways, so maybe that will just move into the attic as it is too big too hold toys.( unless puppy has 1000 toys, which ist not unlikely )
she also has a few collars, my parents will probably end up keeping her main collars and I'll take a few ne the others (like the ones from secret Santa ) :-(

 

[~WelshStump~]

Maddy didn't have much, at all. I tried to keep her nasty old HEAVY plastic pink food bowl, but where I decided to store it wound up covered in black mold, don't know how that happened? I have her collar, license and several old rabies tags (don't know why, I like to collect them). Her bleach dyed orange collar hangs from my bed post. I didn't get to keep anything of Courage's, she also didn't have much, her favorite thing was a "dental ring" (made of a strange green substance adhered to a cardboard ring) and that obviously wasn't something savable. I tried to get her collar, but the a**holes at the vet hospital were so blind they didn't see the gray/tan double thick leather silver studded collar around her black furred neck and cremated her with it on! Needless to say a couple incidents later and I highly DON'T recommend that clinic at all.

Oh, yeah, forgot to add, the large box full of photographs. Honestly, I don't like keeping a ton of stuff, I hate living with the baggage and after having to clean out the house of a hoarder, I really don't like keeping a lot of stuff around. Photo's, definitely my favorite of all things to save.

 

[Beanie]

The bowls I don't know. I would probably reuse them. They are pretty generic studio scoops so... it would probably be a little tough but I would reuse them.

Auggie has a keepsake box already of stuff from when he was a puppy, the very first toy he won at an agility trial (Payton tried to destroy it so I had to put it away), things like that. I will just put stuff into that box and keep it, tucked away in a closet for me to pull out and cry over at various times. =P I would probably pack away the basketball toys, those are obviously Auggie toys. Just like Payton has football toys and I would probably pack those away too; probably his dinosaurs too. And Pepper has a small stuffed green pepper - it's obvious who that belongs to. So those things would be put into their keepsake boxes.
But most of the toys would just stay out and the other dogs would continue to play with them. If it's not somehow special or clear to me which dog it was bought for (or which dog played with it most - I've bought Pepper toys and she doesn't like them LOL so they aren't really Pepper toys.) I probably wouldn't put it away.

I don't know about leads and stuff. Collars I can see I would put away because those have tags on them, and I wouldn't really want to take their tags off. Auggie has so many skull leads and stuff, I would probably continue to use those (the Bad to the Bone lead I would likely put away and not continue to use.) But Auggie has a Fighting Illini lead that is most definitely Auggie's, and Payton has his Chicago Bears lead that is obviously his... but I don't know. I love the sports teams enough to name my dogs after players on the teams, so it's not like I won't like the Bears after Payton goes. But I'm not sure what my emotional attachment/assignment to those would be. I would probably put them away for a while and maybe bring them out later after time has passed, but I just don't know how I would feel.


I think it's harder because Gipsy was an only dog so everything you guys owned was obviously Gipsy's. =< For me there's gray area on stuff, especially toys, because the dogs share them... I don't know... maybe put everything away for now and decide on it later when it becomes necessary. Sometimes it's too hard to think about "should I keep this or should I just donate it/throw it away" when everything is still so fresh.

 

[~Dixie's_Mom~]

I've kept the collars and tags of my past dogs. Pretty much everything else was reused. Chloe has Lucy's bed and loves it. It makes me happy to see her use it, because I think they are a lot alike. It's what drew me to Chloe to start with.

 

[ruffiangirl]

Ruffian and Tonkas tags got attached to their urn (which is a Japanese puzzle box) they both had several collars so it was mostly their tags. Each of my dogs now have one special personalized collar that will go on their urns. I also want to get a bracelet that I can add charms too with some of their ashes in them.

 

[sassafras]

It kind of depends. Personal stuff like tags, collars, and favorite are either put away in a "memory box" kinda thing or used as keepsakes - I have some tags on keychains and some on urns, for example. More communal stuff like bowls, beds, or leashes... well, we've never been completely without a dog since we've had dogs, so those just stay in more or less continuous use.

 

[Locke]

I was thinking about this the other day.

With our first dog Tippy, I kept her blanket and collar. We kept her bowls and leash, and just recently gave them to my sister for her new dog. We donated her little sweater and winter coat. She didn't play with any toys in her last year of life, so nothing to do there.

With my dog Mitch, I kept his leash, his two collars, and his favourite orange Cuz ball.
I've been debating if I'll use his leash with my next dog since it's a really nice leather leash, but at the same time, I kind of want it to have just been his. There's a chance that next dog will be too small for the clasp, so I'm kind of hoping my decision will be made for me that way.
Other than his Cuz ball, the other toys were shared with Matrix, so we didn't put any of those away, and even though we bought the dog bed for Mitch, Matrix used it just as much, so we left it where it is.