THE PET CHAPLAIN LEARNING SERIES
About the Series
The Pet Chaplain Learning Series is a four-book set that combines rigorous research with intimate stories of pet keeping and loss. It also includes a wealth of learning resources that will invite you to reflect deeply on your experiences with your animal companions.
Our research spans diverse academic fields, including history, theology, philosophy, sociology, anthropology, psychology, human-animal studies, biology, and neuroscience. To balance out all this scholarship, the books include an abundance of pet stories. These stories help bring the abstract concepts explored in the series down to earth. If you love animals and keep pets, you’ll discover kindred spirits who’ve traveled the path of pet loss and gained wisdom from the experience.
The result is a vital reflection of the unshakeable strength of the human-animal bond, the power of animals to teach and heal us, the struggles we face when we say goodbye to our beloved companions, and the creative and inspiring ways we find to journey through our grief.
Key Takeaways
Discover why we’re so madly in love with our pets and grieve intensely for their loss
We call them our best friends, babies, soulmates, and heart animals—terms of affection that signal a profound connection between people and their animal companions.
Almost every pet keeper considers their animal to be a much-loved member of their family, and an increasing number rely on their pet as their sole source of companionship. Yet the loss of a cherished pet is still widely misunderstood and minimized in our society.
The learning series explores this paradox with a critical eye—challenging common misperceptions about animals and the human experience of grief to offer new insights into the profound impact our animal companions have on our lives.
Write your sacred story and chart your path of healing and personal growth
Are you anticipating the loss of a pet? Actively grieving a recent loss? Perhaps mourning a pet lost years ago? Or maybe you might be thinking about your relationship with animals and the rest of the greater-than-human world in general. No matter what’s on your mind, the series will help you reframe your experiences with animals and gain insight into your values and where those values come from.
The series can also help you on your healing journey. You’ll discover why guilt and anger are common responses to the loss of a pet; the powerful impact of our social experiences and cultural heritage on our journeys of grief and healing; and how the loss of a special animal can be a life-changing experience.
Each book also includes an installment of our Sacred Story Project, an exercise that will invite you to craft a story about a special animal as a lasting tribute to their memory.
Explore the spiritual connection between people, animals, and planet
Our learning series is based on a belief in the sacred bond between humans and animals. We also recognize that a spiritual response to the loss of a special animal can be profoundly healing.
Throughout the learning series, you’ll be encouraged to explore your spiritual beliefs about animals, the afterlife, and the interconnection of all living things. People grieve for the loss of their pets, but they also grieve the loss of wildlife, champion trees, untouched wilderness, and sacred places. Through the series, we hope to spark discussion about these losses that remain largely unacknowledged and unexamined in the modern world.
Learn from other animal lovers
Each book in the series incorporates the collective insights of hundreds of animal lovers from diverse places, backgrounds, and spiritual traditions.
The books are based on the written lectures from our original online course in veterinary chaplaincy, which we taught for five years beginning in 2018. Animal lovers from all walks of life participated in the course. They discussed the course’s written lectures and shared their stories of love and loss in small discussion groups. Our lectures evolved and expanded in this rich, interactive environment. We learned a great deal from our students, and we’ve incorporated many of their stories and insights into the series.
The series also reflects the collective wisdom of pet keepers who’ve participated in our pet loss support group for the past two decades. We’ve personally lost pets as well, so we know how difficult the journey of grief and healing can be. Click here to learn more about our history and how the learning series came to be.
Connect with kindred spirits in a book study group
We encourage you to form a book study group with others who want to learn about pet keeping and loss. Your group might include your family and friends, co-workers, fellow church members in your place of worship, animal lovers you know through social media groups, or even people you meet at the dog park.
To facilitate self-reflection and group discussion, discussion questions are included in each book in the series. These questions are based on a collaborative educational approach that emphasizes exploration, analysis, interpretation, and dialog. There are no “right” answers to the discussion questions. Rather, the goal is to promote critical thinking and to encourage you to articulate your unique perspective and gain insight into how others think and feel about animals.
Beliefs about animals vary greatly in Western society, so sharing this storytelling journey with others is a great way to practice listening well to others.
Make the world a better place for animals and the people who love them
The fourth book in the learning series, Veterinary Chaplaincy, offers a foundational education in interfaith spiritual care for pet loss. No matter what your educational or work background, it provides a rich resource for personal and professional development.
Professional caregivers, including board-certified chaplains, ministers, clinical counselors, or social workers, will gain the domain knowledge about pet keeping and loss that will help them better serve their animal-loving clients.
Animal care workers, such as veterinary professionals, shelter and animal-rescue workers, therapy animal handlers, animal behaviorists, control officers, pet trainers, groomers and sitters, will improve their ability to respond to their human clientele in ways that honor their spiritual or religious beliefs.
Everyday people with an interest in service as a volunteer community chaplain or lay minister will gain the knowledge and skill to provide a healing presence to pet keepers in their time of need. If you simply want to provide better support to your animal-loving family and friends, you’ll gain insight and tools to make a difference in their lives.
An affordable educational opportunity for veterinary practices and animal rescue groups
The learning series offers an affordable way for veterinary practices, shelters, and animal rescue organizations to build camaraderie, improve morale, and learn practical methods for supporting each other as well as their human clientele. Animal care workers often lack opportunities for personal and professional development, and the series can help workers support each other while improving their ability to support others who are in emotional pain and spiritual crisis.
