What do you do with a dead dog?

I get an email the other day from one of my good friends with whom I don't talk that often. (Is that an oxymoron? He's a good friend and we don't talk very much?)

In the email, my buddy was announcing the sad news that his dog had died in the back yard on the Fourth of July, an event to which his daughter promptly asked, "Can we cut off his head and keep that?" 

That leads me down a side path about an acquaintance I had when I was a bit younger. He had a cat. Loved the cat. The cat died. So he had it stuffed and mounted on a wood block in his living room. Now, first of all, I'm not a cat guy at all. They are aloof. They are not friendly. They are hot chicks in high school, basically. Give me a dog any day of the week. Suffice it to say, this acquaintance never got laid. What girl is going to come over to his pad and give it up with a dead cat looking on? (Insert inevitable pussy joke here.) 

Anyway, cutting the dog's head off and keeping it aside, it got me wondering, since my Yellow Lab is now 11 years old and on the downside of, well, everything: What do you do with a dead dog?

We used to have dogs growing up. But I have no idea what happened to them when they died. They just sort of -- disappeared. I guess that is the job of a Dad, right? Make the dead dogs disappear. 

But seriously. What do you do with a dead dog? I've never had a dog die on me as a responsible adult and as a parent. Do you bury them in the backyard? How about if your backyard is not that big? Do you throw him in a dumpster? Seems a bit coldhearted for a creature that has brought so much joy -- not to mention some pain -- to the family. Do you have a funeral and get him cremated? Do you throw him off the bridge? (Actually, I like that idea for a dead cat.)  

If anyone knows the answer, I'd appreciate a little help.

Memo to RadDad: I don't even know how to spell Dos Equis.