THE PET CHAPLAIN LEARNING SERIES
About the Books
The Pet Chaplain Learning Series is a flexible, self-guided program designed to meet the unique interests and learning goals of different readers. The books are written to work as a series and, together, offer a robust education in pet keeping and loss as well as interfaith spiritual care geared specifically to the needs of pet keepers.
The Series at a Glance
The first three books in the Pet Chaplain Learning Series will encourage you to explore and articulate your values and beliefs about many topics that are central to pet keeping and loss, including the human-animal bond, euthanasia, grief, death, animals and spirituality, and the afterlife. You’ll also be invited to engage with the grief you may have experienced for the loss of your animal companions and to explore your spiritual path as a pet keeper and animal lover. This inner work will also help you in your caregiving work. Beliefs about animals vary greatly in our society, and the series as a whole will prepare you to respond with empathy to people who feel as you do about animals and with sympathy and tolerance to those who do not.
Most of the instruction in the practice of veterinary chaplaincy is found in the final book in the series, Veterinary Chaplaincy: A Practical Guide to Interfaith Spiritual Care for Pet Loss. For the best learning experience, we recommend reading all the books in the series in the order they’re presented on this page.
Book Details
VOLUME 1
Heart Animals
Sacred Stories About the Special Pets Who Change Our Lives
As the first volume in the Pet Chaplain Learning Series, Heart Animals sets the stage for the series, reviewing our unique approach to chaplaincy education and key learning objectives. It’s also an engaging story collection that features intimate portraits of a diverse group of aspiring veterinary nurses, or “vet techs,” and the special animals who captured their hearts.
The real-life tales in Heart Animals reveal the central role that special pets play in our lives and the powerful ways they shape our identities. Readers will venture into the hearts and minds of these unsung heroes of the veterinary world and bear witness to the non-judgmental love that inspired their dedication to a demanding career and their desire to help animals and pet keepers.
Finally, Heart Animals includes the personal stories of Pet Chaplain founder Rob Gierka, offering insight into the pivotal experiences that shaped his interest in veterinary chaplaincy and the rewards and challenges he faced as he sought to make spiritual care for pet loss more widely available.
“My work in rescue is how Freddie lives on. And that’s because with each life that I save, a little piece of him lives on, a little piece of his spirit. Because his life had value. That’s the place I eventually came to, and I found peace in that.”
— Lillian
Reflecting on the loss of her long-time companion, a Maine Coone named Freddie
VOLUME 2
“Just an Animal”
Reflections on the Human-Animal Bond and Western Culture
If you’ve lost a beloved pet, you’ve probably heard the phrase, “It’s just a dog” (or a cat or a hamster or a fish…) along with the advice to get another pet to feel better. Such sentiments reflect a culture in which grief for the loss of a cherished animal is still widely trivialized and in which many pet keepers are compelled to grieve alone or deny their feelings.
“Just an Animal” will take you on a critical, eye-opening exploration of the complex reasons that the loss of an animal companion is so misunderstood in our society. Drawing on scholarship from sociology, psychology, human-animal studies, philosophy, and religion, the book digs deep into the historical record to show how Western culture has shaped a false narrative about non-human animals that distorts reality and fails to reflect the powerful bonds we share with our animal companions.
You’ll discover the connection between the social alienation that many pet keepers experience when they lose an animal and the age-old conflict between people who regard animals with respect and compassion and those who see them as useful objects. All forms of life on this planet are caught up in this conflict, and readers who’ve lost a cherished animal will gain a deeper appreciation for the connection between our love for our animal companions and our affinity with the natural world.
“Nobody really understood how I felt after Rambo died. There was nobody who would even talk to me. I wasn’t close to my mother, and she wasn’t an animal person. My sisters would just say, ‘Well, you’ll get over it. Get another pet.” Or friends would say, ‘Yeah, I’m sorry you’re going through this, but you’ll get over it.” And that’s about all I heard. There was no consolation.”
— Celeste
Reflecting on the loss of her beloved dog Rambo
VOLUME 3
Always in My Heart
Coping Creatively With the Loss of a Special Pet
Always in My Heart guides readers on a healing journey for the loss of a beloved pet. The book offers an honest account of the challenges we face when navigating a pet’s end of life, from the anxiety and fear that can surface when the pet’s health is declining, through the moral challenges of euthanasia, to the guilt and anger that so often accompany a pet’s death, and, finally, to the life lessons that emerge as we make meaning of a relationship with an animal companion.
Unlike most pet loss books that focus on the short-term aspects of the experience, Always in My Heart takes the long view, providing a rare glimpse of the journey of grief that takes shape in the months and years after we say goodbye to the animals who are an important part of our daily lives.
The path to healing after the loss of a special animal is a lifelong journey of creativity and self-discovery that calls on each of us to embrace the inevitability of death and overcome our discomfort with strong emotions. In the long run, our cherished animal will always be with us, even when they are physically gone. The pure, non-judgmental love animals offer resides forever in our hearts, and when we learn to share that love in this world, we can find true healing and peace while also honoring our pets’ memories.
“I can still feel Muppet rub up against my leg. I can actually feel her. There are a lot of things that spark those memories, those sensations. I constantly see her. I don’t even have to close my eyes, and I can see her. Even though she’s gone, she’s still with me all the time in heart and spirit. She’s just part of my life. And I can still feel the love.”
— Frank
Recalling his cat Muppet, his cherished companion for nearly 23 years
VOLUME 4
Veterinary Chaplaincy
Coping Creatively With the Loss of a Special Pet
The final book in the Pet Chaplain Learning Series is a call to action for anyone who wants to learn to better support people who are grieving the loss of an animal companion. Veterinary Chaplaincy provides a foundational education in the principles and practice of interfaith spiritual care for pet loss.
Highlights
A focus on storytelling. Because storytelling is central to the practice of veterinary chaplaincy, we developed a unique interview framework that will help you encourage pet keepers to reframe their experiences with special pets beyond their loss and give voice to the deep meaning and lasting value of those relationships.
A unique approach to the concept of presence. Pastoral care is often referred to as a “ministry of presence.” We look to our animal friends for inspiration as we learn how to be fully present in the moment and offer our healing presence to those in emotional and spiritual crisis.
A primer in compassion. People often use the terms empathy, sympathy, and compassion interchangeably, but there are key differences between these concepts. Understanding these differences can help you push the edges of your compassion and listen to others without judgment.
An overview of religious and spiritual perspectives about animals. We offer detailed insight into the perspectives about animals in the world’s major faith traditions as well as ancient spiritual practices and emerging perspectives drawn from scientific understandings of the natural and social worlds.
Tips for creating memorials and rituals. One of the greatest gifts you can offer to someone in emotional and spiritual crisis is a meaningful prayer or secular reflection as well as memorable rituals that honor a pet’s memory. Veterinary Chaplaincy offers guidelines for crafting prayers, reflections, and rituals, both extemporaneously or as part of a planned memorial service.
Pastoral communication techniques. Our detailed review of the communication techniques most commonly used in veterinary chaplaincy will help you hone your ability to support grieving pet keepers. These techniques are used to open up a conversation and put the focus on the grieving individual.
Sample pastoral conversations. Known as “verbatims,” transcripts of actual conversations between chaplains and pet keepers provide great insight into the give-and-take of a pastoral conversation and an understanding of how a different response on the part of a caregiver can result in a more helpful outcome.
Guidelines for responding to children, seniors, and people with service and emotional support animals. You’ll learn best practices for responding to the unique needs of children, seniors, and people who rely on service animals for physical and emotional support.
Tips for facilitating a pet loss support group and launching a pet ministry. Opportunities for informal community service as a veterinary chaplain, such as pet loss support groups and pet ministries in places of worship, are abundant. People grieve for animals in many settings, from shelters for the homeless and victims of domestic violence to senior care facilities where residents may have been forced to relinquish a pet they could no longer care for.
An eye-opening look at the crisis in the animal care world. Rates of compassion fatigue, burnout, substance abuse, and suicide are above average among veterinary professionals as well as people who work in animal rescue and control. We believe that this is a crisis of the human spirit as animal caregivers regularly suffer moral distress in their work. Many are asked—or compelled—to do things to animals that conflict with their love of animals and their desire to save animal lives. Veterinary Chaplaincy takes readers into the back room of the veterinary world to raise awareness about this spiritual crisis and consider how average pet keepers as well as spiritual caregivers can help.
