The first dog that I personally provided for and spent most of my days with transitioned to Spirit a little over three years ago now. It still feels like it was yesterday, but that’s how grief can be, it’s also how loss can be.

When you lose someone, pet or person, who was a big part of your life, you never really lose them. 

A big part of who you are, exists because of who they were. Those with whom we spend large shares of our time, become a part of who we are on a behavioral, and even a soul level.

As a Dog Spirit is getting ready to transition to the afterlife, and take their permanent leave from this Earth, many human companions can already sense it. They can tell how their friend is feeling based on what they are seeing.

Dogs communicate with us all the time as humans, through body language, vocalizations, and their actions. As we grow to love our dogs, we learn these subtle cues, and can use them to interpret the needs of those in our herd.

This mostly non-verbal, sometimes soul level communication, that we have with our Dog friends, continues in the afterlife, but a lot of times it changes form in a few key ways, which I’ll share below.

What I have learned both in my own Dog’s transition to Spirit and in assisting others going through the same is that after they cross over, you will still be able to sense your Dog’s presence - usually through a feeling, though many people are also visited in dreams.

If you meditate and see clairvoyant visions in your meditations, you may even see your Dog’s Spirit appearing to you in meditation. 

Appearing in meditation is something most Loved Ones do, even pets. When their appearance is unexpected, when you aren’t thinking about your Dog at all and then they appear, this is usually when it is more likely a visitation than a wishful longing. 

Next, you may notice your Dog Spirit’s presence with you consistently during the first 7-10 days of their transition, and then following that, visitations may seem inconsistent. 

For example, you may notice after the first six months of grieving, sometimes you can sense their presence, and then other times they appear to be spiritually absent from your dreams or meditations, for weeks or months, before they reappear.

This is normal and there are a few reasons for it:

1. Like Humans, pets also experience a life review. This is a chance for them to go through their entire life, identify who they’ve impacted, check in on others in their soul group and to get ready for their next incarnation. 

2. The grief process for humans who’ve had their best furry friend leave this Earth physically can be incredibly hard. Some people, who can sense Spirit, cry and experience more intense grief, if pets spiritually visit too soon - as their spiritual presence is palpable and still a reminder of the loss. So pets, as well as people in Spirit, sometimes hang back while grief takes its course to prevent temporarily increasing the emotional pain of grief, just for a time.

3. One Dog Spirit touches many lives. You may think that the owner or guardian of the pet is the only one grieving and missing their presence; this just isn’t true. One dog, just as one Human, can have made an impact on the lives of so many. This doggie ripple effect doesn’t just apply to “service” dogs, it’s literally any dog. So, your Dog in Spirit may be with you sometimes, and then other times, they are visiting others whose lives they’ve also touched.

Finally, as mentioned above, Dog Spirits most commonly visit in dreams as well as by you sensing their presence. 

Remember that once a Dog leaves their physical form, they can visit you by appearing in any form from giant blue angel, to ball of light, to towering, robe-flowing Spirit Guide.

You often know it is them for sure by identifying the essence present, how the Spirit feels to you, or by who the Spirit says they are, when asking in a calm, meditative state, and receiving consistent, similar feedback. 

Dog Spirits may also come forward to outside spiritual mediums using symbols, cueing their presence by showing their favorite food, demonstrating their behavior disposition or even visiting the medium in dreams.

You may have family or friends with mediumistic tendencies, so if someone mentioned their dreams of your transitioned Dog, now you know what they were doing in between visits to you.

In the end, Dog Spirits do hover and linger around their closest ally in their last life time, that means their guardian, and most likely that is you. They are still aware of what is going on.

They have come through in readings to say that spending time around their humans was Heaven to them, so this is why they choose to stay around you.

When a dog stays with their human, this doesn’t mean they didn’t cross over or are Earthbound, instead Spirits who have crossed have full freedom of movement and can flow between their realms at their leisure.

Most if not all Dog Spirits, cross over right away and within the crossing over window, which is usually between 7-10 days, but can be up to 49 days as mentioned in some Buddhist texts. This window is a gateway of light left open to Spirits transitioning. Some feel it is similar to a temporary portal, and the time Spirits spend before leaving their body for good is called “the Bardo.”

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Other Articles You May Enjoy:

• 7 Tips For Grieving The Loss Of A Pet

• 4 Signs Your Pet Is Spiritually Communicating With You

• 10 Signs Your Pet Is Visiting You From The Afterlife

• Can Spirits Visit You In Dreams?