When people make tough decisions, they often turn to God. This author turned to Dog Chapel in Vermont.

The story behind “Dog Church” by Gail Gilmore is as heartbreaking as the stories of loss Gilmore details in her book.

The “dog church” to which Gilmore refers is an actual Dog Chapel on Dog Mountain in Vermont. Artist Stephen Huneck created the chapel in 2000 after surviving a catastrophic illness and used the quaint style of 1820s Vermont churches for his inspiration. The chapel is full of messages of love from grieving dog owners to their beloved pets, but the chapel is more a celebration of life and the love unique love between dog and owner than honoring the dead.

Huneck himself, who had depression, committed suicide in 2010 and his wife died in 2013, so Dog Mountain is a now certified 501(c)(3) nonprofit.

But Gilmore’s book is not a tribute to Dog Chapel, per se. It’s Gilmore’s story of how she found guidance, wisdom, support and comfort in that chapel each time Gilmore had to make challenging and heartbreaking decisions about her dogs, decisions that involved when to continue treating an illness or condition and when to say “good-bye.”

If you’ve ever struggled to make the most humane decision for a pet, if you’ve ever heard the two horrible words of “he’s gone,” you will understand this book, which Gilmore tells in a non-linear way.

“I find it complicated, this matter of deciding when to let another life go,” Gilmore wrote “a life that belongs to me only in the sense that I’ve agreed to be its steward.”

You will most likely guess the ending (I did), but the point of this book isn’t the ending. It’s the journey that brings Gilmore, and the reader, to the ending that gives meaning to this piece of creative nonfiction.

Along the way, you’ll read select messages other dog owners wrote in Dog Chapel: “To my loving dog Bear...thanks for being there when no one else was.” “Cloudy: “You opened my heart to life and brought me joy every day. You are not just in my heart, you are my heart.” “To Hannah: A friend who always gave me a sense of direction. Always in my heart. Wait for me.”

You’ll experience how Gilmore develops a relationship with her dogs, from the joyful beginning to the heartbreaking end.

You’ll learn about aggressive mast cell tumors in dogs and Canine Cognitive Dysfunction, which sounds like a fancy term for a learning disability. In reality, the disorder is canine dementia. The VCA Animal Hospitals website said, “Many of the same changes and lesions associated with Alzheimer’s disease in people have also been recognized in dogs and cats.”

You’ll read about jealousy and conflict, such as when one of Gilmore’s previous partners demanded to know if, given a life or death choice, Gilmore would save the partner’s nephew or Gilmore’s dog. Such an occasion never arises, but the foundation of the question isn’t curiosity.

Mostly, you’ll learn more about love.

“I want the lessons each of my dogs have taught me about unconditional love to remain a part of me,” Gilmore wrote. “Holding a dog’s love close, even when that dog is no longer physically with me, is what enables that love to be forever, allows it to transcend all boundaries.”

Buy “Dog Church” on Amazon.

Know more about LocalLit

Each week LocalLit will deliver an original short and family-friendly story (or a book review) by a local author to the newsletter’s subscribers.

Authors with a connection to our readership area may submit. Submission does not guarantee acceptance.

Contact Denise M. Baran-Unland at 815-280-4122 or dunland@shawmedia.com.

If you’re not already receiving this free newsletter, sign up at shawlocal.com/the-herald-news/newsletter/#//.