Yes, the dog in this picture is napping. Eternally.
He’s dead.

But thanks to the same technology that sent ice cream into space, his bereaved owner was able to have him lyophilized -- or freeze dried. Why bother with photos when you can have the real thing, arranged on his dog bed, for all time?

Pet Preservation is just one of several companies offering this service. Lyophilization-philes describe it as perfect for someone who doesn’t have a private yard for burial, is squeamish about cremation or just can’t let go. “Now we can keep him forever! He looks just like he was,” a New York couple wrote to Perpetual Pet, which dried and posed their black kitten playing with a spool of thread.

The process keeps the entire body intact without decomposition – as compared to taxidermy, which preserves only the external skin and fur. Prices range from about $395 to $2,000, depending on your pet’s size. Poses are extra.

Freeze-drying isn’t a new process, and even freeze-drying animals has been around for awhile. I found a Time magazine piece about a Florida man who was drying everything from pet hamsters to alligators back in 1989.

Don’t get me wrong: I do understand how someone might want to thwart the heartbreak of losing an animal companion by keeping them around, forever fluffy. But I can’t imagine that frozen, silent versions of my cats would give me much comfort. Plus we would have to pose Dolan eating, not sleeping.

So: Would YOU ever consider freeze-drying your pet? Is it a lasting memorial? Or macabre?

(photo from Pet Preservation at www.petpreservations.com)