The electrical spark is no more, the body becomes inert. If you want a more graphic or philosophical answer try reading, Way to Go by Alan Spence. (It's got a few good laughs in it too!)

I think that no one is necessarily wrong or right everyone will go to either the heaven or hell they believe in.

I think it'll be exactly the same as pre-conception.

Aren't we all just electricity and carbon? We go back into the earth for sure!

I've yet to hear or read any sound reason why any form of consciousness extends beyond the death of the mind that creates it that isn't simply playing the "what if" game.
Consciousness ends. It's that simple.

Death is void. The only part of you (or in this case your dog) that stays behind is the happy memories you shared with the people around you, your children or in this case puppies that will carry on your DNA and photos taken. I find it the highgth of idolatry for humans to believe they are so important in the scheme of the universe that their lifetime is not enough, they need an extension in some form. We are born from the random matching of one of millions of sperm with one random egg. We spend whatever time we manage to survive on this earth and then at some random time, we die. End of story. Anything else is memories and fantasy for those who remain. And I actually find that comforting.

Ashes to ashes dust to dust.one thing the church has correct

Nothing.

We decompose - producing mostly nitrogenous -based forms which are recycled back to the various ecological systems.

And a few of us haven given our bodies to hospitals where doctors learn. So they'll cut us up, practice a surgery ultimately they'll do on the living, and at some point after the playing with is over all the parts are returned, cremated, and returned to the family....and for FREE.

I believe in ghosts, so I believe we stick around. Dead people become the drunk party guest who gets kicked out and sits on the curb with a beer, waiting for their buddies to join them.

Common sense dictates that death would mimic the pre-zygote state: nothingness. Its comforting to dream about perhaps becoming part of a post life Borg-ish collective or a swirling energy somewhere in the Universe that could be tapped by those with sharpened awareness skills, but shortly after you die when your body and brain flame out, what would be generating that energy, especially since it would be for eternity? That's where that concept falls apart for me. Some of this philosophy may be driven by those unwilling to accept that their 'presence' will disappear from being except in the memory of the living via the survivors' recollections or some kind of media. At death our awareness will terminate...but we won't know it nor feel any pain.

We are sorry for the loss of a human or a pet. I won't be able to answer until I am experienced in the subject... but WE ALL ARE OVER HERE NOW.

To answer the question at the top....Fuck knows!

I think your right ... but if you're looking for comfort ( and I don't mean to sound sarcastic), then you can turn to any number theories.
But I think we tend to go on only so long as the memories of others think us of intrest or significance.
Other than that our remains (unless cremated) return to the soil.
So I've found comfort in knowing that I, your dog, you, will end up in the soil that feeds the earth, which feeds the worms, which feeds the birds and other fauna, etc. etc.
Hence we go on!
On a humourous note I found this little gem

I'm very sorry about your loss. My family had two sweet black cats who passed away (the first one, when I was two, but she was 16; the second one, when I was ten, and he was 17), and we were crushed both times. Pets are family.

To answer your question, I believe that what happens to all of us after death is the same as what had happened to us before we were born. We can't personally recall events that had happened before our birth, and I just don't see any evidence for anything happening to us after death. I wish I'd be able to reunite with dead friends, relatives, and pets once it's my time to go, but I think there isn't any evidence of that happening.

HOWEVER, since this is the one life I know I have, I am more inspired than ever to live it to the fullest, obtain as much knowledge as possible, and be with friends, family, and pets as much as possible. If I ever have kids of my own, I'll make sure to spend as much time with them as possible, since I don't see myself eventually reuniting with them after our deaths.

Though, in a way, we do live on after death. We "live on" in the memories of friends, families, and anyone else whose life we've influenced. We ultimately come from stardust; and when we die, we become stardust once again.

I find this video, narrated by Stephen Fry, to be very comforting in regards to a secular viewpoint about death:

That is the biggest mystery in life, isn't it. what happens. well, according to physics energy can not be created or distroyed. so I think our biochemical energy goes back into the universe's pot. kind of like the symetry.

Nothing.

Lots of things happen after you die, however none of them involve you

To most of us the term "I" is used to refer to our sense of self, our innermost being, our conciousness.
I fell in 87.
I awoke in 88.
BUT
In betwist I was up and about, having mood swings and was a general pain in the ass. My first memory in 88 is like a Salvador Dali painting, an impossible morning. It should be fall, but it is late spring, budding trees with fresh green leaves, young flowers . . .when yesterday everything was brown and cold.

Where was "I" in that time?
My brain had a mild edema, not worth the risk of drilling or crainiotomy. The MILD swelling produced memory loss and emotional swings, "I" was not there, while my body was functioning day to day.

In split brain surgery you can have TWO conscious minds develop in one brain, minds that don't agree on everything. If your postulating something AFTER the brain dies, when brain injury, damage, disease, surgery and death transform and even end consciousness and personalities, then you are arguing for some kind of soul. Something which lives on AFTER the brain dies.

There is no evidence for that.

What happens after death?
What happens to the light when you turn it off?
It's off, it's NOT.

Yep, you are right. I wish there were a doggie heaven but they, and we, don't go anywhere anymore than we came from somewhere. I am astounded that some responses here assert some vague hippie/yuppie/spiritualist reincarnation wish. I think those folk have mischaracterized themselves as agnostics. If it isn't empirical, it is just wishful thinking.

I also meant to add...really sorry for your loss.

Nobody knows for sure until we die, that is why it is important to live while we are here. Why worry about something you have no control over? The only thing for sure in life is death and taxes!

I'm sorry for the loss of your pupper

I've come to your same conclusion, but it's about the effect that you leave on the planet that allows you to live on after you go. Your dog may be gone, but the memories and the happiness that it gave you continues.

What happened before life? There that's your answer