[PyrNet-L] Doggie grief- was What happened

["Merrilie" <Grammy@biddeford.com>]

We lost our German Shepherd  about 9-10 mos ago to lung cancer.  Dalton was
lying on the floor of the bedroom on Sun morning (of course, the on-call vet
was a jerk- he wasn't my regular one..) and Barney,my dalmation would not
leave Dalton's side.  He growled at me when I attended to him... the whole
protective ting.  When Dalton died, Barney grieved... mopey, sullen, hair
was falling out.... it was awful.  I know to this day he misses Dalton... He
was his bud..... and we probably over compensated trying to make him happy
and making him alpha and are now struggling with the reprocussions of it. He
really doesn't want us to know he is beginning to accept Sam.. they play
when we aren't looking, but the minute Barney sees me, he becomes a bit more
aggressive. Barney doesn't like Sam on Dalton's pillow.... so they do
grieve.  I am really touched by what Joy did with the urn... that is so
neat!  I am sorry you lost your baby..... I have the name of an animal
behavorist who gave me some great ideas to help lessen the grief, but it
sounds like you did the right thing.
Merrilie


> On 28 Jul 99, at 8:41, Susan Wachter wrote:
>
> > I never finished my tale so as not to be morbid.  When Abbott died,
Shane
> > dragged around for month even tho we had a bitch.  Eventually Shane
perked
> > back up.  Unfortunately about a year later when he developed bone
cancer.
> > It wasn't a month after his passing the bitch, Stella his sister,  died
in
> > her sleep.  Broken heart?  We don't know.
>
> Grief in pyrs is real, at least that has been my experience.  My
> oldest girl Mishka is a very serious dog. She's the alpha of this
> pack of dogs and lets none of them forget it. The helps raise the
> young ones, and keeps her own style of order.  She has experienced 3
> losses here that affected her deeply.  Her behavior was amazing, not
> to mention heart breaking. Her first loss was a mixed breed male I
> had who raised her.  She was sad, lethargic, went out for several
> mornings and stood on his grave.  The second loss was my father, whom
> she adored.  For months she went through the house looking for him.
> The 3rd and hardest loss was our horse, who she perceived as her
> charge.  I thought I was going to lose her for several weeks after I
> had the horse put down.  Again she went out and would lay down on the
> grave.  She would not eat, immediately started vomiting water, after
> the horse was down.  It took 9 days to get her to eat.  I would find
> her hiding behind chairs or in corners of rooms she did not usually
> go into. She would not sleep in my room at night, or do her usual
> check to be sure I was okay.  I would get up and look for her and she
> would be all alone, hiding. When she was outside, she would pace back
> and forth and did not bark for weeks. < that was a sign that things
> were definitely wrong>. These deaths were all in the first 3 years of
> her life.  The last one about did her in.
>
> When the blue heeler became ill, Mishka knew Audrey was on her way
> out and decided she was going to help things along.  I had to
> separate them as Mishka would try and attack her for no reason.  They
> had never been pals and Mishka barely tolerated her. Audrey was the
> first dog I did not bring home to bury, I had her cremated.  Whether
> this was the reason there were no signs of grief, or whether they
> knew a sick dog was no longer here, or if Mishka did just not like
> her, she did not react like the previous times.  But after Audrey was
> gone, the pack order was disrupted for a month or more.  Some of the
> younger dogs trying to move up.  More grumbling and cross eyes than
> normal.  Everyone got serious lectures for quite a few weeks.
>
> Last week my neighbor lost a dog and his companion dog was very
> upset.  I did not know this until later in the day, but when I came
> home for lunch, all my dogs were upset, walking the fenceline at the
> property next door and barking more than usual. The dog next door has
> continued to be upset, barking and howling at night.  I will find my
> dogs by the fence, especially my male, who seems to want to be close
> to his neighbor dog. He will just lay down close to the fence, trying
> to look through one of the cracks.
> Pyrs do like order in their lives, much of this behavior may be
> because there has been a change they do not understand.  But with
> Mishka, I feel she was truly grieving the losses she endured.
>
>
> Judith
> jsmiller@newmex.com
> Taos, New Mexico
>
>
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