Pet Loss and Toddlers

Last weekend, after a short battle with cancer, we had to put our old dog Sam down. We lost a dog last spring as well, but our son was only about 18 months at the time, and wasn't too phased by the situation. Sam however, is a different story. Finn is 27 months now, and explaining this process to him has been nothing short of heart wrenching. I was hoping to share my experience with pet loss and toddlers in hopes that what I have learned may someday help someone else. And, I am reaching out to anyone who may read this who has any advice to give to me!
When Sam's time came, we had a vet come to the house to euthanize him. We allowed Finn to be there and watch the whole process as we felt it was important for him to know what was going on. The vet gave us some good advice, which we have taken to heart. Never explain death as "going to sleep". This can cause horrible problems with toddler not wanting to fall asleep anymore, and if your kid is anything like mine, more sleep problems are the last thing you need... So be honest, tell them the dog died and will no longer be with you. But, reassure them that they are somewhere safe.
Finn tells me at least once a day how much he misses Sam. This has been really hard on me, but I use these opportunities as a time to talk about how sad it is and to remember all of the fun that we had with Sam . Sometimes I will ask him to draw a picture of Sam (a scribble-version), or I show him a photo. It seems to reassure him to know that even though he is not with us, we have not forgotten him.
Reading childrens books about pet loss has helped as well. A couple that have been helpful for us have been The Forever Dog by Bill Cochran and Dog Heaven by Cynthia Rylant. The latter is a bit on the religious side, and since we are not, we simply change the words to something that better fits our spiritual beliefs. Pin It Now!