Many of us love our dogs and cats like they’re our kids. So when they die, the grief hits hard.
David Haarsager’s mission is to help you through that. “It’s the nicest thing I do,” he said.
He is the owner of Heartfelt Memories, an Everett-based business that offers an array of pet cremation services. Since forming the business 10 years ago this month, he’s helped tend to an estimated 4,000 pets.
He does his work with the decorum of a funeral director.
“We’re very, very respectful,” Haarsager said. “We treat the pets as if they were our relative.”
Haarsager or his assistant pick up deceased pets for cremation at a facility in Sultan, and then present the animal’s owners with an urn containing their ashes, a certificate guaranteeing the cremains are those of the pet, and a clay impression of the dog or cat’s paw.
It’s meant to be a service for those who can’t or don’t want to transport their pet to a crematorium after they die.
“I was the only one doing home pick-up for pets that have passed away,” he said of Snohomish County 10 years ago. “I’m still the only one.”
David Haarsager takes a heart-shaped clay paw print impression of Sprite, a 12-year-old dog that passed away in Lynnwood. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Haarsager also can arrange for a veterinarian to provide at-home pet euthanasia. He partners with eight vets for this service.
He mostly helps with the cremation of dogs and cats, but he will pick up any animal — birds, rabbits, ferrets, gerbils, hamsters. The largest pet he’s ever picked up for cremation was a 250-pound pig. The smallest? A beta fish.
Kurt and Nichole Menzer, of Marysville, have said goodbye to three dogs with Haarsager’s help: Daisy, Duke and Dolly.
Dolly, a golden retriever-German shepherd mix, was the first dog they’d ever had to put down, so it was by far the hardest. She was only 4 years old when she was diagnosed with a softball-sized tumor in her uterus. There was no guarantee it wouldn’t grow back after surgery.
Duke, a Jack Russell terrier, and Dolly, a golden retriever-German shepherd, both are now gone. Duke was 13 and Dolly was 4. (Kurt Menzer)
Hiring Heartfelt Memories’ services for Dolly in 2015 was essential to the Menzers because Nichole’s mother had just passed away. Having Haarsager arrange everything took a lot of stress off her. They said goodbye to Dolly in the comfort of their living room. Duke, a 13-year-old Jack Russell terrier, and Daisy, a 15-year-old wire-haired Jack Russell, also were euthanized at home, in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
They still have three dogs — Dixie, Chase and Zola — and a cat named Dehlila. The couple said they’ll call Heartfelt Memories when each of those pets reach their end of life.
They said they appreciate Haarsager’s gentle voice and soothing, compassionate manner.
“I’ll never go to another service if I had to put another dog down,” Kurt Menzer said. “In a time of grief like that, it’s nice to have someone come along and take care of it for you. I’m extremely thankful because our pets are like our kids.”
Michael and Sarah Niemer, of Lake Stevens, recently lost Lammy, an English pointer with a severe autoimmune disease. He was only 6 when he had to be put down this November.
“My husband and I were an emotional wreck,” Sarah Niemer said. “They were incredibly professional and compassionate — everything I could have hoped and wished for during this difficult time.”
Haarsager made their children, Annelise, 9, and Boden, 8, clay paw prints to keep. The kids plan to decorate them.
Sarah said she still expects to hear Lammy’s bark when she pulls into the driveway or see him greeting the kids as they get off the school bus. He’d watch for them from his perch on their play set in the back yard.
“He was a really good dog, and he deserved a good death,” she said. “(They) provided that for him.”
Coco the chocolate lab passed away in October. She was 9. (Tim Connor)
It was a Sunday in October when Tim and Nanette Connor, of Woodinville, said goodbye to Coco, their chocolate Lab. She was 9. Coco had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer that caused her great pain. When she no longer greeted Tim as he got home because she was avoiding the stairs, he knew it was time.
“You have to do it when it’s the right time for them, not the right time for you, because that time will never come for you,” he said.
They didn’t want to wait after making the decision, so they had Haarsager and a vet drive out that same day.
Coco’s urn and clay paw print now sit on a shelf next to the urns of Tim Connor’s mother and father.
“Coco was more than just a dog, she was part of the family.”
Haarsager, 65, has had pets all his life. He’s loved and lost a number of dogs and cats — even a salamander named Sir Isaac the Newt.
He keeps the ashes of a beloved cat in an urn. She was named Taz, after the Looney Tunes’ Tasmanian Devil, and she had long black-and-white fur. He made his own clay paw print memento.
“Our kitty was very affectionate,” Haarsager said. “She gave us a lot of love.”
About 10 years ago, he and his wife, Elizabeth, had Taz euthanized at a vet clinic. She was 16 and her liver was shutting down. Even with both of them there, Taz was so scared that she bit and scratched Elizabeth. His wife had to get a tetanus shot.
“It wasn’t a very good memory,” he said.
Not long after they said goodbye to Taz, David Haarsager was chatting with a veterinarian about pet cremation services — and how they wished they had done home euthanasia — and realized he could start his own business.
Haarsager launched Heartfelt Memories in 2009. He built a website and got his first call that December.
He works out of his home and is available seven days a week from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. But Haarsager said he will help whenever he is needed. Call him at 206-571-4439.
The Heartfelt Memories website has a list of transportation, pet hospice, veterinary and grief resources. Go to www.heartfeltmemories.pet for more information.
You also can download a free e-book, “Is It Time to Say Goodbye? A Guide for Considering a Difficult Decision for Your Pet,” by Timothy J. O’Brien. Haarsager recommends the book to his clients because O’Brien is an expert on grief management.
O’Brien guides readers through making end-of-life decisions for their pets. His book also goes over the three types of grief, what to expect before and after the procedure, how to deal with feelings of loss and when is the right time to get a new pet.
“Pet loss is sometimes worse than losing a mother or father,” Haarsager said, adding that he still has a 9-year-old black cat named Cosmo. “Sometimes our pets are our closest relationships.”
Haarsager also is dealing with his own grief. He lost his wife last year to esophageal cancer. She was 51.
He said running his business is good therapy for him.
“Helping other people with their grief is helping me with my grief,” he said. “It’s been a wonderful, wonderful outlet.”
Sara Bruestle: 425-339-3046; sbruestle@heraldnet.com.
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