Do dogs grieve when another dog passes?

Yes, dogs grieve too. In fact, because dogs process everything emotionally and intuitively, their grieving process is often very difficult for them because their sense of loss is so profoundly emotional. You probably know this, but to re-state the obvious: dogs do experience a grieving process when they lose an animal friend. Personality changes seem especially true if the dog is grieving for another animal and he’s not sure what his role is now that his friend is gone. Grieving is his way to honor his friend—human or animal—just as it is with people, so allow him the time and space to do that. If your dog is experiencing grief because of the loss of an animal companion be careful about introducing a new dog into the family right away. Dogs are willing to trust you to help them trade sadness for happiness. They want to be well—on all levels—so grieving isn’t something they enjoy or want to prolong for any length of time.

Experts are still undecided about whether dogs can experience true grief and understand the permanence of death. But we do know that they can experience distress when separated from close friends. If an animal in the household dies, surviving pets can sometimes seem clingy, anxious or more sensitive to things going on around them. They might even seem depressed, losing interest in playing, sleeping, or eating. These changes could be a reaction to missing their friend, because they’re picking up on their owner’s sadness or a response to changes of routine. Remaining pets may begin to show signs of separation distress, these can include panting, pacing, whining, drooling, howling, barking, not eating treats while alone, or even refusing food entirely.

You may not realize it, but dogs do grieve the loss of a companion. Just like people, all dogs react differently to loss. Some dogs seem to act completely normal, while others get deeply depressed. Certain dogs may develop health or behavioral issues. Grief can even alter a dog's personality. If the dog that has passed away was a leader, the dog left behind may feel it's now his responsibility to take on that job. You may notice him barking more at passersby or acting more outgoing and confident. Or, you may notice your dog becomes quiet and withdrawn. The dog left behind may have physical symptoms in response to the loss. Some common symptoms include lethargy, loss of appetite, and sometimes even illness. No Signs: Some dogs may not show any signs after losing a companion dog. They may hide the signs of grief as a means of self-protection, similar to the way dogs sometimes hide their pain. Losing a pet is a difficult situation for everyone, including the other dogs in the household.

When someone or another pet in the home dies, dogs may show signs that could be interpreted as grief, including crying or searching, appetite loss, a sad demeanour. When an owner or fellow housemate passes away, dogs show signs that could be interpreted as grief. They may experience: loss of appetite change in sleep patterns crying searching a need for extra attention a generally sad demeanour. Many anecdotes suggest that animals do feel what humans call ‘grief’, including an understanding that the deceased is not coming back, but there is little scientific evidence to back this up. What we do know is that many species are affected by loss and experience feelings of sadness and loneliness. Dogs may show no signs at all when another pet in the home passes away. If there was no particular bond between the deceased pet and the surviving dog, you may find your dog appears unaffected by the loss. Dogs may also react if they become aware that you are grieving. Humans’ behaviour changes when they are visibly upset and your pet may pick up on this or experience confusion.

Dogs are highly emotional animals who develop very close bonds with the members of the familiar group. This means that they may be highly distressed if one of them dies and efforts should be made to help them cope with this distress. The results reveal that 86% of owners said their surviving dogs had shown behavioural changes after the death of another canine in the household. Overall, dogs were reported to play and eat less, sleep more and seek more for owners’ attention. Most likely this means that the surviving dog has lost an attachment figure, who provided safety and security. Dogs do form emotional bonds, and hence the loss of a companion animal in their household can be expected to cause behavioural changes, like those we recorded in our study, which overlap what we normally interpret as being grief and mourning. In the course of my own research I have experienced many dogs and other animals behaving in very different ways, but ways which nonetheless suggested to me that they were emotionally impacted by the death of a close companion. The results also revealed behavioural changes were stronger for dogs that were reported to have had a friendly relationship with the animal that had died, or who had been their parent or offspring.