Dogs Mourning

[JeanKBBMMMAAN]

Dogs May Mourn as Deeply as Humans Do - US News and World Report

By Maryann Mott
HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, July 6 (HealthDay News) -- Jon Tumilson's dog, Hawkeye, was an important part of his life.


And, as it turns out, Tumilson was an important part of Hawkeye's life.


After the Navy SEAL was killed in Afghanistan last summer, more than a thousand friends and family attended the funeral in Rockford, Iowa, including his "son" Hawkeye, a black Labrador retriever who, with a heavy sigh, lay down in front of Tumilson's flag-draped casket. There, the loyal dog stayed for the entire service.


Hawkeye's reaction to his owner's death generated a lot of buzz online and in the media. But it's not unusual, according to pet experts, for some dogs to mourn the loss of a favorite person or animal housemate.


Grief is one of the basic emotions dogs experience, just like people, said Dr. Sophia Yin, a San Francisco-based veterinarian and applied animal behaviorist. Dogs also feel fear, happiness, sadness, anger, as well as possessiveness.



Dogs who mourn may show similar signs to when they're separated for long periods of time from the individual they're bonded to, she said. Of those signs, depression is the most common, in which dogs usually sleep more than normal, move slower, eat less and don't play as much.


The beginnings of such a strong inter-species bond between humans and dogs dates back some 15,000 years, when early man and the ancestor of today's dog roamed the Earth together.


Today, after thousands of years of friendship, there's a great deal of attunement between humans and dogs, not only in terms of comprehension of each other's gestures and body language but also emotionally, said Barbara King, a professor of anthropology at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.


It's not just evolutionary logic, or reading peer-reviewed science literature that's convinced King that dogs (as well as cats) feel deep grief. Interviews with astute pet owners for her upcoming book, How Animals Grieve, and the power of observation, has also led her to this conclusion.


Case in point: a grainy video posted on YouTube that captured the image of a scruffy terrier running onto a busy highway in Chile to rescue another dog, hit moments earlier, by a car. As vehicles whiz by the terrier, he instinctively wraps his paws around the injured dog, dragging him off the road to safety.



"When you look at that sort of example, again, you see that these dogs are thinking and feeling creatures, and that sets the stage for grief," she said.


Through her research, King has found that in households with two dogs who've lived together for a number of years, some owners report that when one dog dies, the other gets depressed. Skeptics might point to a change in daily routine as the cause of depression or, perhaps, because the owner is upset and grieving. But King feels differently.


"The surviving dog is searching around the house for a lost companion -- looking in favorite places, going to places that they spent with their friend, very pointed actions that tell you the dog is missing his friend," she said.



In an effort to understand what dogs are thinking, researchers at Emory University in Atlanta are conducting brain scans of dogs using functional MRI (fMRI).


Gregory Berns, director of the Emory Center for Neuropolicy and lead researcher on the project, hopes their work will reveal secrets of the dog-human relationship, from the dog's perspective.


Even with high-tech tools, though, determining whether canines experience grief would be tough, he admitted, because he believes it's unknown how grief looks in the human brain. If it were known, however, Berns said researchers could then look for this emotion in the dog but it would require showing pictures, perhaps movies, of the deceased human or canine.


"It would be fascinating to figure out," said Berns, who normally uses fMRI technology to study how the human mind works. "If I were to speculate, I would guess that, like people, some dogs mourn and others don't."


King agrees. After all, she said, dogs possess unique personalities and react differently, even in the same situation. Whether a dog grieves hinges on a dynamic mix of life experiences, added King, including how they were raised and what their people or animal housemates were like.


If a pet mopes around the house after the death of a canine or human companion, Yin suggests the best thing owners can do is to get their dog's mind off the loss by engaging their pet in fun activities such as a game of fetch, brisk walks and play dates with other pets. "The activity depends on what the dog historically likes," she said.
Don't expect a quick fix. It may take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, pet experts believe, before a dog's spirits begin to lift.

[Shade]

I believe without a doubt that animals mourn, I've seen it happen very obviously in two cases growing up

We had a yellow lab who was diagnosed with cancer at 11, we decided to get another puppy before he got too sick. We got a golden retriever puppy a few weeks later and they became fast friends, Jenna was only 5 months old when Woody became too ill and even though they only spend 2.5 months together they were ery close. When my parents came back from putting him down they brought his collar back and left it on the coffee table, a short while later it disappeared and when we looked we found Jenna curled up with it in her crate. We allowed her to have it for a few days and she never chewed it or damaged it in an way, simply slept with it

Years later we had two cats at the time, and Shadow was 19 and very ill so we put her down and our other cat Cinder started to refuse to eat and wouldn't come out of the basement. She dropped weight drastically so we took her to the vet and her kidneys had shut down and the vet couldn't explain it. We ended up putting both cats down within 10 days of each other

[rosaclinic]

the reference of researches is a real help to understand dog's psychology in grief and how to bring its life on a normal track.

[blackmeadow]

Amazing article.

Humans are animals, as are dogs... I think they have emotions, too. Maybe not the same exact ones expressed in the same exact ways, but emotions nonetheless. I have seen animals express grief, so I agree that yes, animals mourn.

[blackshep]

This comes at a good time, my mom just lost her battle with cancer early this morning.

My parents Lab is following my dad really closely, my mom was her person.


RIP mom, I love you and I miss you already

[Zenithtb]

I'm, so sorry :-(

Originally Posted by Shade

I believe without a doubt that animals mourn, I've seen it happen very obviously in two cases growing up

We had a yellow lab who was diagnosed with cancer at 11, we decided to get another puppy before he got too sick. We got a golden retriever puppy a few weeks later and they became fast friends, Jenna was only 5 months old when Woody became too ill and even though they only spend 2.5 months together they were ery close. When my parents came back from putting him down they brought his collar back and left it on the coffee table, a short while later it disappeared and when we looked we found Jenna curled up with it in her crate. We allowed her to have it for a few days and she never chewed it or damaged it in an way, simply slept with it

Years later we had two cats at the time, and Shadow was 19 and very ill so we put her down and our other cat Cinder started to refuse to eat and wouldn't come out of the basement. She dropped weight drastically so we took her to the vet and her kidneys had shut down and the vet couldn't explain it. We ended up putting both cats down within 10 days of each other

[ksotto333]

Our Lab and terrier mix got out through an open gate a few years ago, and went along the nearby creek then crossed the road. A snowplow hit and instantly killed the Lab, a neighbor had pull the terrier off the road, she wouldn't leave her. She wouldn't sleep that night, she just kept pacing. Before the accident she was a healthy 7 year dog, she deteriorated daily, started having seizures, heart problems, and barely eating. We made many trips to the vet, even left her overnight once for observation, they were never able to diagnosis anything. She passed away in her sleep 6 weeks after we lost Toby. I just think her heart was broken.

[Olivers mama]

If anyone has any doubt as to whether or not dogs mourn, read this story: (formerly posted under 'Current Dog Affairs' on this forum)

Dog stands guard over deceased owner?s grave for six years | The Sideshow - Yahoo! News

I think most of us with 4-legged pets KNOW they mourn - but, for some reason, "researchers" have to be convinced!

Have you guys seen the movie, "Hachi"? Another example. (I just saw it this past weekend - cried like a baby...)

[Emmy]

Dogs mourn just as people do. My father passed away not long ago and he had gotten a dog for us back in 2001. He is a rescue dog and grew close to us but most of all to dad always at his side. When dad passed our dog at first didn't realize what happened I think. He just saw the medics near him and having just been to the hospital he had had days where dad wasn't around. When he left the last time and we had to leave the area Our dog sort of shut down. For a while refused food and only drank if I gave it to him in my hand. He would come to me and lean on me as he had never done before. We mourned together. He is not a high energy dog and has never played so all I could do was give him extra cuddles that both of us needed and let him know he was still wanted and loved by someone in this world.

[Loneforce]

I could tell some mourning stories, some very recent. I just don't have the heart to .....Yes they mourn as us humans do.