Do pets reincarnate?

I had this wonderful dog for a few years.

He was very smart, and was a great pet. He would grab your hand and take you to the back door if he wanted to go out. He would also lead you to his water bowl if it was empty, or the refrigerator if he was hungry.

He died from a brain tumor a year and a half ago. He was 7 years old.

A stray dog that was left on our doorstep after hurricain Katrina had a litter of pups.

My boyfriend let me keep one of them, and he is very much like the dog I had that died a year and a half ago.

Do our pets come back to be with us?

I'm convinced this is the same dog, in a different body.

Your thoughts?

I've leaned towards reincarnation as a reality for a while and I think all animals, including the microscopic, reincarnate. However I do not believe they reincarnate to the same species they were before.

I somewhat believe life and reincarnation are both evolutionary processes that work together. An individual who lives, dies, and returns does so only as a higher form of life that has a higher awareness and understanding of what is going on around it.

My opinion only, of course.

reply to post by Enthralled Fan



I don't know if they reincarnate - and I am certainly not a fan of the whole reincarnation theory - but I can tell you that a cousin of mine, who is the last person in the world I would expect to say something like this, swears that a dog her family had for almost fifteen years is almost palpably - not "in spirit" (= i.e. in memory) - by her side most of the time.
(He wasn't that much at her side before because she was in school most of that time, but she did adore him, they all did.)

If I were to consider Reincarnation for what it is, I would have to say that pets as with all creatures of awareness will reincarnate.It is our awareness that is eternal, our body is what fades to dust.To further elaborate, our memories are stored primarily in the memory centers of our brains however it is believed that as our awareness does progress through life some memories stay with us,others are said to carry onto a form of "Acashic Records"(sp?) where it is kept until our next cycle.It is unlikely that taken by chance that you would meet someone you knew in another life, though the ideology of the "Acashic Records" is that you can choose to be reincarnated and plan your life so that you may be with others.To me, if this is true, your former pet loved you enough to be reincarnated in the manner that it did so that it may continue to walk beside you on your own journey.I Hope this helps ^~^.

My dog did something incredibly odd a couple years back and we still to this day entertain the idea that she is the reincarnation of a small girl ripped from the mortal coil too early.

We were watching Unsolved Mysteries about a girl (something like 7-10 years old) who was kidnapped by a horrible man who was never caught. Her name was Jennifer Odem I believe.

They showed a picture of the girl with intention of finding someone who knew about her. At this, my dog shot up off the couch and literally began bawling and howling at the television. She was jumping around like a lunatic. Now my dog has never so much as looked at the TV before or after this event, but that picture of that poor girl got her going.

Later on, watching the same program, we saw that the girl's body had been found. The expected time of death was just weeks before my dog's birth. This sent chills up our spine.

So do I want to believe that this poor girl is living in the body of my mutt to this day? No I sure don't, but it certainly has crossed my mind.

reply to post by SantaClaus


It wasn't necessarily the picture on the TV screen what made her bark.
Perhaps it was the voice of the narrator, a certain word, or the sound effects (if there were any), that triggered a "memory", a response in your dog.

Originally posted by Vanitas
reply to post by SantaClaus

 

It wasn't necessarily the picture on the TV screen what made her bark.
Perhaps it was the voice of the narrator, a certain word, or the sound effects (if there were any), that triggered a "memory", a response in your dog.

Well certainly it could be anything. But this was a hair-pin trigger response RIGHT when the picture came up. It couldn't have been a quicker response. My dog was a puppy and her even reacting to anything was odd, as she's a sleeper. But she's never even made that sound again in the few years its been since.

Just providing the story, I have no real opinions on it. All I can say is that it gave us all the chills.

All I can say is that it gave us all the chills.

Well, I can't say I blame you...

reply to post by Enthralled Fan


My dog of over 12 years died two christmases ago. I went out an picked up a dog when the time felt right. My new dog although a compleatly diffrent type of dog, and diffrent sex, acts so much like my dog that died people that knew my dead dog see my new dog as acting so much like eachother its chilling.

Although I'd like to accept the fact that the two dogs are one in the same, I require so much proof that it's not posable to prove.

Maybe this is where the "spirit guide" in animal form arises from.

Sure I'd like the dogs to seem the same, however it is the fact that several other people have seen it and said so unprompted that makes me ponder the reality of the likelyhood.

Sure I'd like the dogs to seem the same, however it is the fact that several other people have seen it and said so unprompted that makes me ponder the reality of the likelyhood.

You know how they say that dogs often resemble their "owners"? (And they do!)
That's most likely because people inadvertently choose dogs that somehow "resemble" them.

While this has nothing to do with the appearance, I think it's worth considering the possibility that you tend to inadvertently always choose dogs with the same type of "personality". And you probably also interact with them in the same manner.

Not that I am bashing the idea of "animal spirits"...





[edit on 29-5-2008 by Vanitas]

Originally posted by Vanitas

Sure I'd like the dogs to seem the same, however it is the fact that several other people have seen it and said so unprompted that makes me ponder the reality of the likelyhood.

You know how they say that dogs often resemble their "owners"? (And they do!)
That's most likely because people inadvertently choose dogs that somehow "resemble" them.

While this has nothing to do with the appearance, I think it's worth considering the possibility that you tend to inadvertently always choose dogs with the same type of "personality". And you probably also interact with them in the same manner.

Not that I am bashing the idea of "animal spirits"...

[edit on 29-5-2008 by Vanitas]

Yeah, but if you knew the details you'd understand how this isn't true in my case. I don't go "dog shopping". I picked a dog via a picture on the internet at the "pound" (spca) website. It was a puppy and that's all I knew about the dog. I went up and picked up the puppy.

I didn't know anything about the puppy's personality, nor did the dog actually look anything like my old dog. The picture was quite bad and the puppy wasn't happy.

This is in everyway unlike the way I picked up my "old dog" years ago.

Originally posted by Frith
I've leaned towards reincarnation as a reality for a while and I think all animals, including the microscopic, reincarnate. However I do not believe they reincarnate to the same species they were before.

I somewhat believe life and reincarnation are both evolutionary processes that work together. An individual who lives, dies, and returns does so only as a higher form of life that has a higher awareness and understanding of what is going on around it.

My opinion only, of course.

I agree with that, not only do they reincarnate but theres a good chance you were one yourself in a previous incarnation. so long as people follow the constructive path and not the destructive one souls will continue to move on to more complex forms when they are ready until they reach the level where they can choose to once again become one with the source of all life (whatever you want to call it depending on your beliefs/religion) and take back the knowledge and power they have accumulated to complete their full cycle

it may hurt to lose your friend but it may help to remember that if he died more than a month ago he is almost certainly alive again in one form or another and its possible if his timing was good and he was lucky that he managed to incarnate close to you as you suspect may have happened

Do our pets come back to be with us?

reply to post by Enthralled Fan

Hi again EF,

I have thought about this a lot especially in my job as a busy pet animal veterinarian. It certainly seems to us as if dogs (and probably cats too) have soles. I've heard a lot of stories by owners about their dogs coming back to them in another new dogs body. Different dogs have such unique, defined and predictable personalities that they are like humans in some ways. And we have soles so why wouldn't at least some dogs have soles or something similar?

But if you read sleeper's thread as you and I have, his sources indicate that the "sole" as we know it only resides in the human (and other higher beings) bodies except in special cases. In other words a sole could be in a dog's body temporarily or permanently. Or it could be emprisoned in a dogs body. So there are a lot of posibilities.

Another thing to consider are near death experiences where people have definate memories of "the other side" usually as a result of trauma or extreme sickness. What do they report? They say they met a familiar relative or friend that passed on before them. I don't recall a near death experience in which a person met a familiar deceased dog, cat, horse etc. Although I've heard a lot of clients say that they expect to see a beloved pet when they get to the other side. My guess is that they are going to be disappointed.

"But if you read sleeper's thread as you and I have, his sources indicate that the "sole" as we know it only resides in the human (and other higher beings) bodies except in special cases"

From my experience most people simply want to believe that because it eases any guilt they may feel for taking the lives of animals on a regular basis in order to survive and grow. but the threat of death is what gives life meaning so i suppose its that way for a reason

"Another thing to consider are near death experiences where people have definate memories of "the other side" usually as a result of trauma or extreme sickness. What do they report? They say they met a familiar relative or friend that passed on before them. I don't recall a near death experience in which a person met a familiar deceased dog, cat, horse etc"

Thats because they havnt fully crossed over yet and they are still in between. its normal for various entities either real family members and friends or simply entities taking a comforting form to try to ease the spirit into death to relieve the trauma and stop them getting lost.

reply to post by Enthralled Fan


Do dogs or pets in general reincarnates?
If you believe in reincarnation then of course it applies also to all living being-earthlings, with out any discrimination.
And then also if you are a believer of this spiritual concept then you will also acknowledge that reincarnation is a spiritual process for higher experiential dimensions
Ok…now.
According to many spiritual teachers, planet earth and human have been enslaved and denied from true spirituality. The world at large to day is searching for a path which will bring true understand for it self, but this process is hijacked by a certain elite which crave on the enslavement of human hence the bottle-neck concept which human are still bound to this third dimension. And reincarnate again and again in the same realm.
Now, you see what one part of the human is doing to the large part…apply this to dogs and pets.
Every single owner of pets and dogs- with out knowing it- is enslaving the soul that animate the body of those animals. These animals will reincarnate again and again in the same realm because they have been suppressed from they true environment, which is the wiled life at large.
Keeping animals near us is denying them from they true path of spiritual evolution.
This is why I love all earthling and want to see them all free to pursue they own journey in this dimension for a prospect of higher dimensions.

I hope you can understand my view point; it is not so easy for me.

kacou

reply to post by HuntaXX


Hi Hunta,

There is one other reason I believe it's less likely that animals have soles comperable to the human sole. Our soles are complex, far too complex to be trapped in the body of an animal with a comparatively simplistic life. I think the only hope here is that somebody up there makes simple soles for little bodies. And what I'm saying is that I understand that it simply isn't the case as difficult as that is for us pet owners!

Originally posted by plumranch
reply to post by HuntaXX

 

Hi Hunta,

There is one other reason I believe it's less likely that animals have soles comperable to the human sole. Our soles are complex, far too complex to be trapped in the body of an animal with a comparatively simplistic life. I think the only hope here is that somebody up there makes simple soles for little bodies. And what I'm saying is that I understand that it simply isn't the case as difficult as that is for us pet owners!

Hello again Plum,

I was wondering what you meant by human souls having more complexity than an animal soul.The concept is new to me so naturally I find myself interested ^~^.I agree that humans are more complex than animals, though to me I've always come to the conclusion that this was because of the human body primarily, including the brain.A lot of our complexity seems to come from memory,speech inventories,creative concepts,personality to name a few.Though this seems to be more something that resides in the brain, at least for me anyways.If this is a facet of the human body rather than a facet of the human soul then perhaps at that very basic level we are all the same.
Would it be possible if you could elaborate on the concept of human soul complexity. I understand that its a tricky concept to begin with, but I would love to hear what you might think about it ^^.

reply to post by ~Waffles~

Hi Waffles,

I'll give you my understanding of the human sole. This comes from studies of the (re)incarnation phenomenon, near death experiences and a lot of exchanges with sleeper back when his threads were active.

No human on earth knows where the sole comes from or where they are made except to assume that "God" is involved in the process. But they are a form of energy that is complex and unique. The purpose of the sole is to occupy complex bodies such as the human body and accumulate experience or experiences of all types in an effort to attain understanding in an overall sense of how life and nature operate. So it is sort of a long learning process of the sole. Each sole has a definate personality and expresses itself in the process or action of life.

In terms of age, a sole is more or less timeless as we know it. We have probably been in many if not thousands of bodies proviously. But previously is only a concept as time probably is more or less non existant to a sole.

As I mentioned, our soles are in the process of learning about life and what makes the universe work, what makes it function properly. As an example, if we are perceptive we learn quickly that hate, greed, lying, rage, deception, irresponsibility and violent behavior are not conductive to comfortable existance. We're much better off practicing tolerance, truthfullness, self responsibility and integrity. It seems that some soles don't learn and some do. If they don't then they keep coming back to relearn. If they do then presumably they progress and next time they may be allowed to chose a less challenging more harmonious place to life. Hint: that might not be planet earth.

A sole that is this complicated would not want to be trapped in an animal's body. Not by choice and we usually have somewhat of a choice in these matters.

Originally posted by Frith

I somewhat believe life and reincarnation are both evolutionary processes that work together. An individual who lives, dies, and returns does so only as a higher form of life that has a higher awareness and understanding of what is going on around it.

This interests me Frith. I wonder though, what do you mean by a higher life form? As an example, would a fish be lower than a dog?

Would a cat be on the same level as a dog?

Originally posted by ~Waffles~

It is unlikely that taken by chance that you would meet someone you knew in another life, though the ideology of the "Acashic Records" is that you can choose to be reincarnated and plan your life so that you may be with others.To me, if this is true, your former pet loved you enough to be reincarnated in the manner that it did so that it may continue to walk beside you on your own journey.I Hope this helps ^~^.

I love this idea. He was something else, one of the best pets (friends) I ever had. Even if this dog isn't the same soul as the other one, I love to think he's around me sometimes, anyway.