Dogs grieving one another

SheltieChe said:
I am sure animals, dogs and cats understand Presence or Lack of Presence. It is human who put it into emotional terms, religious terms, make it sad or happy events and such. It is simpler on subconsious/ molecular/ tissue level Matter or NO Matter. Sickness/ Illness has a different scent/ different modalites in vibrations/ waves whatever theory you support. Point is illness is recognizable on some basic level. Imminent death is recognizable on basic level and it is us humans, not animals that lost this ability to recognize it.
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in agreement that sickness or imminent death is recognizable.. but some people choose to be in denial.. people themselves who are dying know that they are dying days or weeks before the fact and still some of their loved ones will deny it. I could give examples but they are not shelties so I won't..
 
Bellesmom said:
rethinking my other post about them not understanding death, I think that probably if they see their doggy friend, they would understand that their friend is dead. on the other hand, if their friend is taken to the vet and just disappears than I don't think they would understand that their friend is dead, just that they are missing and they would grieve and look for them..
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This is exactly how I feel. This part isn't about putting human emotions on a dog. They smell the dead friend, they understand that it is dead.

But, if the friend goes away and never comes home....they continue to look for their friend.

At least, that is how it rolls in my house.

Although....I don't leave a dead dog in the house all day :dead: A couple of sniffs and usually the dogs shake their head and walk away on their own.
 
Chris said:
This may take a while, but I think this discussion thread is profound and important.

I worked as a Hospice nurse for several years in the 1990s. During that time, we always made sure, if the family agreed, that the family pet was permitted to visit the person who died so that they knew that the loved one was truly gone.
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When my uncle died, his Sheltie was over 200 miles away from him with my sister. Unfortunately, I was not able to take Corky because of having Hamish, though I wished I could have. At the exact time Uncle Bob died, Corky started to howl. He knew, even though he was so far away that his master was gone. The Sunday before Hamish died, he gave me a look when I was leaving to come back to the town I was living in and we were in the process of moving to. It was like he was saying goodbye to me. When I got up on the Wed morning, I knew he was gone.

Dogs can and do miss their companions. They do understand death but we cannot put a human perspective on how they understand it. We can just accept and acknowledge that it is so and provide what we can for them at the time of the loss of a companion, human or animal.
 
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Chris, what a beautiful story. I remember when we lost Mozart, my first cat. I saw him a couple of times lying on his favourite chair. Six months later when Tigs came home she interacted with an invisible cat - I always said Mozart was checking in on the newbie.:yes:

Ronna, your story about Hamish and Corky brought tears to my eyes.
 
When Maddie died it was sudden and unexpected, Misty seemed quiet for a few days and Louie didn't seem to notice. Now when Louie died almost two months ago, he had been sick for some time and on the morning of the day we took him to the vets the last time, Misty seemed to know, she smelled him over and over again before we left and when we came back without him she was quiet and had the sad eye look. She still is quiet and not the happy dog she was before, she plays a little with Meggie but not much, she just seems sad. Meggie on the other hand remains unchanged by the loss.

Chris, I love how you said the vet gave them the key to the rainbow bridge, you sure have a way with words.
 
I think it has a lot to do with how close the dogs were as to how much 'grief' they will experience. In a household where there are several youngish dogs who all play together with one another, the disappearence of one of their number might no be that keenly felt by the others. Where breeders I know have rehomed dogs, the remaining ones have not appeared undually concerned that someone has gone, and the same appears true when there is a death that the other dogs do not witness. On the other hand, where there are two pet dogs who have lived the majority of their lives together and one suddenly goes, surely it is only natural the other will miss the loss of a companion? Dogs also pick up very quickly on human grief so the combination of the other dog and owner's distress may well cause the remaining dog considerable stress.

One of the reasons I am looking to get a new pup at this point in my boys' lives is that when the dreadful day comes to say goodbye, the remaining dog will hopefully have an established companion so he is not left alone. I don't think I could cope with a grieving dog as well as my own grief. Where I have had rabbits living together and one has died naturally, the other seems to accept it much better than if was PTS at the vets.

It's slightly off topic, but altough it sounds morbid and has been dreadfully had to think about, I have made all the desicions about what is going to happen when the end comes. If I have the option (ie not surgery) I will call the vet to the house rather than taking them to the surgery as I want them to go in familiar surroundings and I have also looked into where to get the cremation done, as some places are better than others. I just don't want to be faced with making difficult desicions and possibly ones I will regret when I am trying to come to terms with losing my boys.

One of the things I envy dogs for is their lack of perception about the future. They just take each day as it comes and don't worry about what might be around the corner:smile2:Its a good philosophy to live by:smile2:I just wish I could do it!
 
That was pretty much my experence with Rockey, when we had to put Jake down unexpectadly, Rockey was totally distraught for weeks he kept looking all around the house for him and whining at us constantly he was very sad , even now a few years later if he see's a border collie he goes over to check it out. but the two were pups together and almost inseperable as this pic shows
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp151/RRH_88/dscf0001copy.jpg

With the 2 previous Border collies Auzzie was 6 and Candice was 12, when candice got sick auzzie knew something was wrong and stayed with her laying down along side her right till the end when she expired, after we removed her to the vets he was absolutley fine, lonely for a few days but he got over it much quicker then Rockey with Jake.
 
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Hurtseverywhere said:
That was pretty much my experence with Rockey, when we had to put Jake down unexpectadly, Rockey was totally distraught for weeks he kept looking all around the house for him and whining at us constantly he was very sad , even now a few years later if he see's a border collie he goes over to check it out. but the two were pups together and almost inseperable as this pic shows
http://i407.photobucket.com/albums/pp151/RRH_88/dscf0001copy.jpg
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All I can say is awww......poor thing. Love the photo of them together.
Y'know, I just thought about it. When I had to give my cat away, Miko used to always try to say hi to every dark cat we came across. :( He must've missed her.
 
I think dogs understand a great deal about death. Over the years, I have had many clients ask to bring along their other pets when they had to let another family pet go.

I had seen more than a handful of dogs sniff the body of their departed buddy. Some sniff and nothing else , some start whinning, some become sad and lay down by the body, some snuggle with the body. I kills me everytime. To a one though the clients believe to helps them with the grieving process.

The one that sticks out the most in my mind: a large GDS mix, very old maybe 14yrs. The clients had 2 younger GDS and husky mix who the husband sat in the lobby with while I performed the euthansia. At exact moment the dog passed away, the 2 dogs started howling, a bone chilling whaling howl. It still brings shivers to my bones thinking about it. They continued until we brought them in to the room. Both ran up to the departed, sniffed all around and nudged the body, sniffed once more and both turning and walked out of the room, dragging their owner away. Yes they understood, very well it my opinion. Changed my mind alot about what dogs feel.
 
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