Annual Ceremony Held For Pets Who
Have Passed Away Is A Moving Farewell
Story by Matthew St. Amand
Every culture has its mythical place in the afterlife where people go when they depart this existence. For sailors, it is Fiddler’s Green. North American Indigenous people believe in the Happy Hunting Ground. Pets who pass away cross the Rainbow Bridge.
The loss of an animal companion can be devastating to those left behind.
In 1981, legendary actor Jimmy Stewart was a guest on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Jimmy had recently lost his dog, Beau, and asked if he could read a poem he wrote to honour him. The poem, titled “Beau,” began with laughs as Jimmy read: “He never came to me when I would call / Unless I had a tennis ball, / Or he felt like it, / But mostly he didn’t come at all.”
By the time Jimmy read the last line: “I’ll always love a dog named Beau,” Johnny Carson, the studio audience and millions of viewers had tears in their eyes; the piece so perfectly captured what our pets mean to us.
It’s that depth of emotion that inspired the first Rainbow Bridge ceremony held in Essex County in August 2021.
It began with a conversation between Gabrielle Cloutier and her colleague Erin Tetreault, both of whom work in the funeral services industry. Erin had just lost her dog.
“We talked about how deeply people love their pets and how difficult it can be when they pass away,” Gabrielle recalls. “We realized there were not many local opportunities for people to come together to remember their pets and find support in their grief. We saw the need to provide a space where the community could come and honour their pets. After the first year, Erin and I made a commitment to continue hosting this memorial service on August twenty-eighth. This year will be the sixth annual event.”
The ceremony takes its name from a prose poem written by Scottish author and artist Edna Clyne-Rekhy titled “The Rainbow Bridge.” Mourning the loss of her first dog, a Labrador named Major, in 1959, Edna “ripped some pages from her sister’s notebook and began to pencil ‘The Rainbow Bridge Poem’…” describing the journey beloved pets make into the afterlife.
As word has spread on social media about the Windsor Rainbow Bridge ceremony, attendance has grown each year. Therapy dogs from St. John Ambulance are present to give comfort to the bereaved.
“St. John Ambulance has been involved with the Rainbow Bridge ceremony for the past five years,” says Lesley Smith, Unit Chief for the St. John Ambulance Therapy Dog Program. “We bring between five and seven therapy dogs to the ceremony. An hour before, the dogs are dispersed throughout the venue and people are free to interact with them. Some attendees sit with the dogs. They reflect and reminisce about their pets. I have seen people put their arms around a dog and cry. The dogs are calm and understand their grief.”
Everyone is welcome to attend the ceremony. It does not matter when the loss occurred, whether it was last year or thirty years ago. Some mourners return year after year. Some attendees bring in a framed photo of their beloved pet. Others bring in the leash or collar.
Candles are lit in remembrance of the pets. People share stories and express their grief.
Scott Lockwood, who helps lead the ceremony, says: “The lighting of candles provides an action. It allows people to give voice to their grief. With pet loss, we feel grief that we don’t always have an opportunity to express in the same way as a human loss. This service provides people the chance to participate surrounded by others.”
Following the ceremony, the therapy dogs remain available for interaction.
“This mirrors what St. John Ambulance does in the community,” Lesley explains. “Throughout Windsor-Essex, we bring the therapy dogs to retirement homes, long-term care homes, hospitals, Hospice, to visit the police, Border Services, among others. We bring dogs to visit at the detention center with officers, staff and with inmates in their units. We go to high schools, to the college, university, a number of children’s programs, reading programs at various libraries and to the John McGivney Children’s Centre.”
The therapy dog program began in Canada in 1992. St. John Ambulance in Windsor-Essex started its program in 2004 and has approximately sixty-five therapy dogs involved in this work. Windsor resident Dave Gillis joined the program in 2004 and remains active in it to this day.
“I was doing agility training with my dog when a fellow owner told me about the therapy dog program,” Dave says. “I’ve had three dogs in the program and have brought them to the Rainbow Bridge ceremony the last few years.”
Dave’s current therapy dogs are a pair of Cavalier King Charles Spaniels named
Seamus and Brody.
“We visit long-term care facilities, retirement homes, the 911 call center for ambulance, the Youth Wellness Hub and the Windsor Police,” Dave says. “I remember a woman in extended care at Southwood Lakes, a number of years ago, who was catatonic. We’d gone there a few times when a nurse approached me and said, regarding this woman: ‘She likes the dog, but you have to help her.’ So, on that visit I brought the dog over to the woman, took her hand and helped her pet the dog. And you wouldn’t believe the huge smile on her face. Apparently the only time she showed emotion was with the dogs.”
Dave has attended the last four Rainbow Bridge ceremonies as a therapy dog handler. In 2025, he was there as a mourner after his longtime companion, Monte, a thirty-eight-pound English Shepherd, passed away.
“Monte was the dog I had in the program the longest,” Dave says. “He made it to sixteen years of age and was in the program since the fall of 2010.”
“The service is open to all pets who have crossed the Rainbow Bridge,” Lesley says. “Whether they were furry, feathered or scaled—we welcome families to honour all pets. Last year our tribute stations were filled with photos. I feel fortunate hearing so many wonderful stories, people sharing who it is they come to honour. It is important to create a sacred space where people feel safe to be vulnerable and share their grief with others.”
Gabrielle says she receives calls from other communities across Canada asking for information about how to organize their own Rainbow Bridge ceremonies.
The 2026 Rainbow Bridge ceremony takes place Friday, August 28 at 6 p.m. at Windsor Chapel Funeral Home – Banwell Chapel, 11677 Tecumseh Road East.
Published in the August/September 2026 Edition.
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