Losing Your Dog Hurts More Than You Expected

What if losing your dog isn’t something you’re supposed to “get over”?

What if the grief you feel is real… valid… and deserves space?

Losing a dog can unravel everything.

Your routines.
Your home.
Your sense of normal.

And yet the world keeps acting like it was “just a dog.”

In this episode, Em sits down with grief counselor and author Anne-Marie Farage-Smith to talk about the kind of grief we don’t normalize enough — anticipatory grief, sudden loss, complicated grief, and the quiet shame so many dog parents carry alone.

They share gentle ways to honor your dog through reflection, small rituals, writing, and memory — not to move on, but to carry the love forward.

Because healing isn’t forgetting.
It’s learning how to live while still loving them.

If you’re missing your dog right now… press play.

Guest Info:

Website: farage-smith.com

Book: Healing Wisdom for Pet Loss

Free Resources & Support

Dog Nutrition Quiz

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Email ⁠⁠[e-mail]⁠⁠ to get in touch with Em

This podcast explores real life with dogs — including dog behavior, reactivity, dog anxiety, stress in dogs, fearful dogs, and everyday training challenges. It’s for dog parents who are overwhelmed navigating life with dogs and want a clearer understanding of their dog, practical support, and a stronger bond while creating a calmer daily life with their dogs. Episodes cover canine nutrition, dog body language, dog communication, dog food and behavior, gut health, dog wellness, enrichment for dogs, dog enrichment activities, routines, dog lifestyle, and regulation — so life with your dog can feel calmer, more manageable, and more sustainable. Hosted by a dog trainer, canine nutrition coach, and retired vet tech, the show blends training, nutrition, and enrichment to support and bond with sensitive, anxious, pure-bred, and rescue dogs at home and in real life.

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