Photo by Eric Taunton.
Randy Hays sits with a painting of his dog, Dixie, that passed away in 2013. Hays was a volunteer at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society and asked if the organization would be interested in forming a pet loss support group, and the director thought it was a great idea, he said.
In November 2013, Randy Hays’ Labrador retriever, Dixie, died unexpectedly from cancer. He went to find a grief support group in Birmingham, but there were none that allowed people suffering from the loss of a pet to participate, Hays said.
A few months later, Hays formed Dixie’s Group, a pet grief support group, with the help of the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, to give people the chance to grieve with others over the loss of their pets.
“I was just devastated over the loss of Dixie,” Hays said. “I grieved and grieved and couldn’t find a group, such as a church group, that would let a person grieving over the loss of their pet participate.”
Hays was a volunteer at the Greater Birmingham Humane Society and asked if the organization would be interested in forming a pet loss support group, and the director thought it was a great idea, he said.
He has seen many group participants who were totally devastated by the loss of their pets but were able to get through it over time with support from each other by sharing and sometimes crying.
“We thought our dog, our cat or whatever was like a family member,” Hays said. “In coming to our group, we have found that it’s a safe place where people can come and share their stories about the losses of their pets.”
He said some people never get over the grief of losing a pet, and they might not want to, but with time and support, they are able to heal.
“We meet from about 6 to 7 p.m., and our meetings seem to be helpful so much that, usually, there hasn’t been a time when we ended at 7,” Hays said. “We usually stay until about 7:15 or 7:30 p.m., so the meetings seem to always be helpful to the people who come.”
Meetings are led by Larry Michael, a trained grief counselor, Hays said. Michael provides handouts related to pet loss and guides participants in sharing their stories, he said.
Dixie’s Group hasn’t had a meeting since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic but will start again on Tuesday, Jan. 25, at the Homewood Public Library in Room 116.
“Without the Homewood Public Library and the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, these meetings would never have been possible,” Hays said. “Both of those groups have been so supportive in helping us, not only developing the meeting but also hosting the meetings.”