Cemetery allows humans to rest with beloved pets

Tony Dillon's experience with his chocolate labrador, Guiness, was from the womb to the grave, he said.

As a veterinarian in Lake Bluff, he said he listened to Guiness' "little heart when he was inside his mom,” and that theirs was an inseparable bond since then.

That's why Dillion chose to bury Guiness June 6 after he died on May 5 at Aarrowwood Pet Cemetery in Vernon Hills.

Guiness' body, Dillion said, was failing him and he made the tough decision to euthanize him. Guiness was 15 years old. Dillion said as difficult as that was, he would have had no one else perform the euthanization.

While making burial arrangements for his loyal canine, Dillon made another decision. He bought a plot next to Guiness so that after he dies he may forever rest by his friend.

The staff at Aarrowood helped him with all the arrangements and they did it tenderly, he said.

“They let me go loose with what I wanted,” Dillon said.

He wanted his friends with him when he said that final goodbye to the pet that had accompanied him to work every single day, the one who he said, stole his heart when he stole that first french fry from the Burger King bag he had left in the car when he walked out to run an errand.

“He loved Burger King,” Dillon said.

He loved it so much, Dillon buried him with a cardboard Burger King crown and his favorite stuffed animals.

His staff, his friends, his family and even his real estate agent attended Guiness' funeral. It was a rainy day and a friend played classical tunes with his guitar while doves were released onto the sky and to remember the occasion, Dillon passed out dog tags with Guiness' name.

“Everyone mourns in different ways,” Dillon said. “That was a celebration of his life.”

He added that the staff at Aarrowood was always compassionate and made everything about that sad experience better.

“That's what we're here for,” said family service counselor of the pet cemetery, Scott Robins.

Robins said cremations, home euthanizations and burial of bodies or ashes are all options the families have.

“I've heard many people say they wished they had known about us before [their pet died],” Robins said. “A lot of the time veterinarians don't even know of all the options the families have."

Robins said pets have become family members and at Aarrowood, they're treated as such.

“If you need us on a Sunday morning we'll be there. If you don't know how to make arrangements, we'll help you. I know that's a time when the family's heart is broken,” Robins said.

At the cemetery, expressions of the love families have for their pets are clearly visible with elaborate headstones with the photos of a dog or cat etched on them, some even in color.

The days of the small black and white photo encased in a glass and blurred from the elements is no more.

Gold plaques with the beloved pet's name and etchings of the entire family, both humans and pet adorn Aarrowood.

“I love just walking here looking at these monuments because they'e so sweet,” said Anna Locki, family service manager of the human burial side of the cemetery, Willow Lawn.

Locki said they allow for pet owners to express their love with flowers, stuffed animals and other items that represented the personality of the family pet. Poems and nicknames also make it on some of the headstones.

Locki said 7,793 animals are buried there. They have a section where only animals are buried, one for humans and another where both human and pet can rest together, as Dillon has chosen to do with Guiness.

Most pets buried there are dogs and cats, but there are othe types as well, Locki said.

Monkeys, llamas, parrots, horses, hamsters, frogs – if the pet was loved, it has a home at Aarrowood, Locki said.

Locki recalls a recent funeral of a 12-year-old's hamster.

“She wanted him next to her heart,” Locki said. “She didn't know how but that's what she wanted.”

Locki made that happen by putting the cremated ashes in a locket she gave to the little girl.

“We're not just here to bury people and their pets. We're here to make this hurtful process a loving expression,” Locki said.

Aarrowood is located at 24090 N. Hwy. 45 in Vernon Hills. For more information call 847-634-3787.