How did your pack react to a pack member death?

[KrisK]

In the 3 days since Jazz left us, I have observed some different things. First of all, I did make sure that the 3 dogs left got to see Jazz after his death. They all snuffled his head and body and that seemed the right thing to do.

Zachary sleeps on the bed, and has needed to be closer than usual. Cricket & Dusty sleep in the dog room. Dusty is crated but Cricket has free run of the room. I took Jazz's crate out. Cricket always slept in a crate but the last 3 nights she has stretched out in front of Dusty's crate or by the gate where Jazz had taken to sleeping the last week of his life.

Cricket's bark seems deeper now. She normally has a high pitched bark but these last few days, it has changed.

They are all more subdued but I guess they are picking up on my mood which hasn't been all that joyful. I suspect everything I'm seeing is quite normal as they adjust to the new order of things.

 

On another note, when my daughter told the Ladybug about Jazz, she replied with "When will Grambug get a new Jazz?" Oh from the mouths of babes who see things in such a simple way

[jrid]

After one my dogs died, all the others avoided his dog bed for a couple of months. It was like he was still lying on it and they knew better than to get on it. He was put to sleep at the vet's office, and the other dogs never saw him dead

[Liz P]

When Duncan died his best buddy Flyboy was genuinly depressed for a good 6 months. He moped around the house, ate less, was more needy and didn't seem to enjoy life as much as he used to. He seemed lost to me.

 

I brought Flyboy home as a pup when Duncan was 3 years old, and Duncan took him under his wing. They became best friends and comfortable with each other in a way that many dogs never are. They walked side by side, shoulders touching. They never guarded bones or food from one another, yet they guarded them from other dogs. They always had each others back. Duncan's death was very hard on Flyboy.

 

Three years later I lost Flyboy to the same type of cancer (hemangiosarcoma) and at the exact same age as Duncan. I supposed that was fitting in a way, but it was very painful to watch a second beloved dog die of the same horrible disease. Flyboy never got close to another dog like he did with Duncan, so while my other dogs knew something was wrong and licked away my tears, I don't think they mourned Flyboy's death the same way that Flyboy mourned losing Duncan.

 

When our dogs die they take a little piece of our hearts with them. I don't think it ever completely stops hurting.

 

Duncan (2/14/95 - 8/6/06) and Flyboy (5/21/98 - 11/28/09)

[alligande]

When Bandit my first Border Collie died, Jester who had been with him for 10 years was miserable. They were very tight and as Liz P said they had each others backs. Bandit died in his sleep at home so Jester not only saw him she was with us when we buried him.

We got Brody when even my husband realized that Jester was desperate for dog companionship, every walk we went she would seek out other dogs and try and follow them even if they wanted nothing to do with her. I don't think she ever liked Brody (she was 13 he was 3) but she became her happy self again and I am convinced that having a young dog around kept her going for the next 2 years.

When she died it was different, Brody was with us when she was put to sleep, he smelt her then just ignored her body. When we buried her he was just of playing and enjoying life a stark contrast to Jester who had lost her best friend. Brody was finally king of his castle.

[geonni banner]

Several years ago when I had two dogs - a rough Collie and a Doberman Pinscher - my Doberman collapsed and died while chasing a tennis ball at the park one day. Blaise just plowed into the ground, as if someone had just unplugged her. I ran over to her and she was not breathing. Her gums were nearly white. So I did CPR on her and her gums started to pink up, but she suddenly shivered all over and she was gone.

 

Sensei, my collie was dancing around with the tennis ball in his mouth while all this was going on. Nor did he seem concerned as a neighbor who lived across the street from the park helped me bag Blaise in a lawn & leaf bag and trundle her home in a shopping cart. He would sniff her bed over carefully for the next few days, but continued to sleep in his own. He was sweetly sympathetic to my grief, but never seemed to have any of his own.

 

When we buried Blaise in a neighbor's back yard, Sensei was quiet and attentive, but did not seem distressed.

 

The manner of Blaise’s death always left me with a sense that she was needed elsewhere rather suddenly, and after a week or so, when the initial shock wore off, I missed her but felt good about her exit. After all, she was exuberantly doing the thing she loved best, and did not appear to suffer at all. Perhaps Sensei felt the same.

[2 Devils]

After we had to put Charlotte down the house was just different for awhile and so were the dogs. At the time Foster, my acd, and Charlotte, bc mix, were left uncrated when we were gone. My poodle Aspen was crated.

 

Foster and Aspen were very distraught after about 2 days of no Charlotte. My dogs are used to one or two being gone for a couple days at a time or not everyone traveling to everything we attend so it took a little longer. Foster and Aspen were more subdued but I think they knew I was not up to much.

 

Once Foster and Aspen realized Charlotte was not there any more they were acted weird. They were pacing, searching for her all the time, wouldn't settle down. Foster seemed to have a harder time with the change so we started leaving Aspen out of the crate. That definitely helped. A month or so later we brought home Riot so the household was turned upside down and well I think we were much happier all around. Charlotte brought a lot of energy to the house so having a puppy brought all that back.

[flyer]

When Duncan died his best buddy Flyboy was genuinly depressed for a good 6 months. He moped around the house, ate less, was more needy and didn't seem to enjoy life as much as he used to. He seemed lost to me.

 

I brought Flyboy home as a pup when Duncan was 3 years old, and Duncan took him under his wing. They became best friends and comfortable with each other in a way that many dogs never are. They walked side by side, shoulders touching. They never guarded bones or food from one another, yet they guarded them from other dogs. They always had each others back. Duncan's death was very hard on Flyboy.

 

Three years later I lost Flyboy to the same type of cancer (hemangiosarcoma) and at the exact same age as Duncan. I supposed that was fitting in a way, but it was very painful to watch a second beloved dog die of the same horrible disease. Flyboy never got close to another dog like he did with Duncan, so while my other dogs knew something was wrong and licked away my tears, I don't think they mourned Flyboy's death the same way that Flyboy mourned losing Duncan.

 

When our dogs die they take a little piece of our hearts with them. I don't think it ever completely stops hurting.

 

Duncan (2/14/95 - 8/6/06) and Flyboy (5/21/98 - 11/28/09)

 

That pic says it all. How lovely.

[ejano]

Ladybug combed the woods looking for Scotty the day after he was killed. You could tell that she was casting about, trying to follow his his scent trail. I don't think she realized what happened -- she was in the opposite direction up the hill (where Scotty should have been). We didn't let her see him -- I was too hysterical to even think of it. She was very lonely and was very happy when we brought the puppies home about four months later.

 

Liz

[ejano]

When our dogs die they take a little piece of our hearts with them. I don't think it ever completely stops hurting.

 

So very true. My sister sent me a picture of me at about five years old, with Ring by my side. It brought tears to my eyes. He was a good dog.

[scomona]

oh, these stories are really sad and incredibly touching. Dogs are so amazing... The picture of Duncan and Flyboy made me cry.

 

I don't have anything to share, since Shiloh is my first dog....but I have really appreciated reading what everyone has written here.

[Bordercentrics]

When dogs are close to each other, they grieve over the other's loss just as we do. They are ALSO sensitive to our grief. You all just need time. I am sorry.

 

Kathy Robbins

[Tommy Coyote]

I don't think my dogs cared one wit. Life just went on.

 

Bandit was a rescue I had that was just obnoxious to the other dogs. He was bossy and they all just stayed away from him if they could. I swear they all had a party when he died.

 

I think Tommy would miss Ellie. When I have to take Ellie to the vet Tommy is always so glad to see her when we get home again.

[OurBoys]

When Josie came into our lives, we had a cat, Tobi. Her and Josie became fast friends. If Josie wasn't playing with Tobi, Tobi would pick on her until she did. We lost Tobi on June 29th last year when her heart threw a blood clot. DH & I buried her in the backyard under a maple tree without showing her to the dogs. The next day, when I wasn't crying as much, I noticed Josie constantly pacing throughout the house. She did that for several days. I knew she was looking for Tobi.

 

Several days later when I let Josie in I noticed her front paws were covered in red dirt. The next time I let her out, I followed her to see where she was digging. Josie ran down the path that runs thru a small patch of woods in our yard and stopped at the bottom of it. She looked back at me, looked to the side of the path and looked back at me. I thought to myself "Oh, doG, no!" I ran down there and sure enough, Josie had found Tobi's grave and had been digging in it. Josie kept looking at me, then looking at Tobi, back at me, then at Tobi. When I didn't move, Josie took a step forward. I gave her a firm "No!". I was devastated. When I brought Josie back into the house, she went to the 1st crate she found, PLOPPED her body down as hard as she could with her back to me and sighed as heavily as possible. I went back out, grabbed a shovel and walked back to Tobi's grave.

 

I stood there for a moment just looking at Tobi's 1/2 uncovered body trying to get the emotional strength to go thru that again and then I realized something. My initial fear of Josie finding Tobi's body was because I knew how much our little merle girl loves her raw. And the stinkier, the better. But Tobi didn't have a scratch on her. Josie had taken great care in removing as much dirt as possible without trying to 'harm' Tobi. When DH & I buried her the 1st time, we had wrapped her body in a towel and placed a large stone at the head of her grave. While Josie was busy trying to dig Tobi out, the stone was slowly sinking on top of Tobi's upper part of her body until it rested on it. I also noticed the towel covering the lower part of her body had been pulled off. That's when reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Josie had been trying to 'save' Tobi. Instead of grabbing Tobi by her leg, Josie had been pulling on the towel trying to get Tobi out from underneath the stone. When she couldn't budge her, she came looking for me. As I reburied Tobi for the 2nd time my heart broke again and the flood of tears started all over. Only this time, they were for Josie.

[bc4ever]

Not a member of our pack, but Sassy, a dog friend of Scooter's died in her sleep yesterday, totally unexpected. She hadn't been ill and was fine when her people left for work in the morning. An English Bulldog, the neighbors had driven to Chicago seven years ago to rescue her. She was ten years old when she passed and according to the neighbors, lived longer than most Bulldogs. Scooter was the only dog that could get her excited enough to run or bark--she wasn't big into exercise. She'd tolerate his craziness just so long, then she'd make the slightest move to stand up, give a little bark and Scooter would race off, like he was running for his life. Whenever we let him out in the morning, he'd always glance over to see if she was out.

 

Again this morning, the first thing he did was check to see if she was out, but this time he stood there longer, looking expectantly at the door, looked at me then back at the door, cocking his head, then slowly wandered off. I believe he knows she's gone.

[luv2napp]

When my Katie died three years ago, Lacee was depressed for weeks. She would wonder around the house looking for her. It broke my heart. She's since moved on, but I wonder every once in a while, if I should get her another companion. I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it. Losing Katie hurt so much, I know it will be worse with Lacee (she's been my constant companion since Katie's death). I keep telling myself that Lacee will be my last, I don't want to go through the pain again.

[pansmom]

When Josie came into our lives, we had a cat, Tobi. Her and Josie became fast friends. If Josie wasn't playing with Tobi, Tobi would pick on her until she did. We lost Tobi on June 29th last year when her heart threw a blood clot. DH & I buried her in the backyard under a maple tree without showing her to the dogs. The next day, when I wasn't crying as much, I noticed Josie constantly pacing throughout the house. She did that for several days. I knew she was looking for Tobi.

 

Several days later when I let Josie in I noticed her front paws were covered in red dirt. The next time I let her out, I followed her to see where she was digging. Josie ran down the path that runs thru a small patch of woods in our yard and stopped at the bottom of it. She looked back at me, looked to the side of the path and looked back at me. I thought to myself "Oh, doG, no!" I ran down there and sure enough, Josie had found Tobi's grave and had been digging in it. Josie kept looking at me, then looking at Tobi, back at me, then at Tobi. When I didn't move, Josie took a step forward. I gave her a firm "No!". I was devastated. When I brought Josie back into the house, she went to the 1st crate she found, PLOPPED her body down as hard as she could with her back to me and sighed as heavily as possible. I went back out, grabbed a shovel and walked back to Tobi's grave.

 

I stood there for a moment just looking at Tobi's 1/2 uncovered body trying to get the emotional strength to go thru that again and then I realized something. My initial fear of Josie finding Tobi's body was because I knew how much our little merle girl loves her raw. And the stinkier, the better. But Tobi didn't have a scratch on her. Josie had taken great care in removing as much dirt as possible without trying to 'harm' Tobi. When DH & I buried her the 1st time, we had wrapped her body in a towel and placed a large stone at the head of her grave. While Josie was busy trying to dig Tobi out, the stone was slowly sinking on top of Tobi's upper part of her body until it rested on it. I also noticed the towel covering the lower part of her body had been pulled off. That's when reality hit me like a ton of bricks. Josie had been trying to 'save' Tobi. Instead of grabbing Tobi by her leg, Josie had been pulling on the towel trying to get Tobi out from underneath the stone. When she couldn't budge her, she came looking for me. As I reburied Tobi for the 2nd time my heart broke again and the flood of tears started all over. Only this time, they were for Josie.

 

That is so sad. What a sweet dog.

[OurBoys]

What a sweet dog.

Thank you. I never knew it was possible to have 2 heart dogs in one life time. Josie proved me wrong.