Do they know?

[RebelGSD]

My friend had to euthanize her beloved German Shepherd last week and she is totally devastated. In her despair she contacted an animal communicator. The animal communicator told her that the dog knew what was going to happen and that he was hoping against hope that he will not be put to sleep. She also told my friend that the dog felt pain during the euthanasia procedure, but the pain did not last long. My friend is now feeling even worse than before.

She told me that the dog did not act scared as they were driving him to the vet and acted as if he were going for a normal ride which he liked. He did not act scared at the vet's office either.

I believe that some of the dogs that are euthanized in kill shelters know. I had to put several dogs to sleep because of terminal illness and pain, some of them were mentally completely there and that was the hardest. I hope that they did not know that I was driving them to death and that they were not afraid. My impression is that dogs live in the present and don't plan or fear the future. In a kill-shelter they may be scared because that is a present situation for them. I personally don't think that they can foresee what awaits them when they leave home. Or maybe I just prefer to believe so.

What do you think, what are your experiences?

[scannergirl]

Sounds like the "communicator" had an agenda.
Your poor friend has nothing to feel badly about- I'm sure she did not make the decision lightly.

[RebelGSD]

It is my feeling too that the communicator had an agenda. I think it was cruel to make my friend worse than she already does.

[Qyn]

Firstly, I'd like to say that the animal communicator your friend consulted is the last person I would refer anyone to. That animal communicator has made this owner regret something she cannot undo and no loved dog would want to that conveyed to their human whether or not after death communication is possible.

There are many people who can accurately "feel" or "communicate" with non-human-animals but that communication usually occurs during life or at least when the human has some way of connecting with the other animal. Most people who consult such people are wanting help for their non-human-friend and, as such, have that friend's needs at heart and their dog will know that. That dog would be sending calming signals all the way to their owner. How could someone, after the fact, dare heap so much pain on another human - any respectable ghost dog would chomp on that person's butt!!

Secondly, I have no doubt that dogs pick up on more of our thought patterns than we realise and some dogs know the stress we feel on many occasions. I do not believe that our loved animal friends think about death or euthanasia as we do. Many medical produres are unpleasant and somewhat painful but I truly doubt that animal communicator's interpretation.

I will share my dog's journey only to demonstrate this. Cisco was 6 weeks off being 17yo and she was beginning to fail - she would eat but had lost her appetite, she was unsteady at times when she walked. Her breath smelt uremic. Urine tests were normal but blood tests indicated her kidneys were failing. I was told that humans with this condition felt ill and nauseous and even when hungry the smell of food would negate appetite. Dialysis in humans would alleviate these symptoms so (while we were still waiting on blood results) I tried the closest available thing to dialysis in dogs which was leaving her there and flushing her blood by intravenous fluid for 24 hours, then I brought her home.

That night she was staggery and gave me "the help me look" and I rang the vet (90-120 minutes away) but there was only an answering machine. So we waited until the next morning, she was a little better and I fed her as much roast chicken as she would eat and it was suprisingly a considerable amount considering her previous appetite - the rehydration gave her that at least. Then we went on her last walk which was only about 25 feet outside the gate and she wanted to go home. I had already rung the vet so I put her in the car and we went. When we got to the vet, there were still a number of patients - I had arranged for the last visit for that morning. I brought her in to see the vet to confirm my decision and to arrange for us to pay then to go to a nearby park. She pulled me to the car and got in by herself which she had been unable to do for the last month. I thought ..... is she really ready to go?

Anyway, we got to the park and we had a little walk around and the house next to the park had some free ranging chickens which had got through their fence .... Cisco looked at me as if to say "This is their lucky day".

Then the vet turned up .... just as a council worker started up his ride on mower. I asked the guy if he could turn it off for about 10 minutes and he did. I put Cisco in a drop and muzzled her as the vet approached, she gave a low growl and I shushed her as I held her leg for him to find the vein. I took off the muzzle and cuddled her while he injected her and I felt her go within less than 20 seconds. I said "She's gone" but he listened to her heart for a minute and said "Yes she's gone". We laid the body bag on the back seat and the vet helped me lift her in and I covered her with a blanket to take her home for burial.

So, my interpretation is she didn't want to be in the vet surgery because she thought I was going to leave her again but she had no problem getting out of the car at the park and she gave no indication of pain with the injection.

Your friend loved her dog and he knew it and while it is the one of the hardest decisions we ever make I think that when our dogs let us know it is time and we acknowledge that and act on it for their sake anyone else, that lays a guilt trip for that decision, needs to take a long, serious look at themselves.

Peace and hugs to your friend in her sorrow.

[angelaw]

I think they know. I put Vishnu down last month. Debated for 2 wks. Had dreams about it, always woke up crying but knew it was right. The night before I took him to the vet, I stayed up all night. Vishnu never gave kisses, he just wasn't the type. That morning at about 5am, he gave me 3 kisses. He also took a walk down his favorite spot where I will be spreading his ashes. He had been unable to do so for months previous. I feel it was his way of saying good bye.

Ok, now to go cry, great.

[littledmc17]

I believe they know too. They can also read your body language.
But you make the decision for the dog because they can't. It is a very hard decision but usually the right one in the end even if it doesn't feel like it.

As for that Pet Communicator shame on them for making your friend feel worse than she already did. Any animal owner would know that their pet only wants to make their owner happy.
I'd be loosing that number and bad mouthing whomever it was.

Please tell your friend she did the right thing for the dog but not the right thing for your friends self.

[WiscTiger]

For shame on that Pet Communicator..... Bad, bad, bad.

I believe that in most cases if we watch our animals they will tell us when it is time just like Angel_W posted. I had the similar experience with my Apache.

If there is any pain involved our animals forgive us for that because they know we love them. Our loves helps them leave knowing that their beloved humans would never never do anything to hurt them.

I know that there are people who can feel the spirit of an animal even after the animals death. But it is more just the essence of the animal.

Val

[RebelGSD]

Thank you for all the responses.

I copied and forwarded them to my friend, I hope they will help her find some peace. I knew her dog and I told her that the messages the Animal Communicator conveyed were out-of-character for her dog.

It is a very hard time for the family. The remaining dog keeps carrying the toys to his favorite spot under the manolia tree and showing them to my friend.

[littledmc17]

that is so sad for the other dogs
they are grieving too

[Shadow&Bubba]

you need to let people know to avoid that particular "communicator" and maybe try to send around a local newsprint stating what she/he did. That is inexcusable for someone to do to somebody else while they are in grief. I'd like to know her reasoning for saying false statements like that in the first place. I'm not a believer in the "communication" thing anyway. If someone said something like that to me after letting go of one of my boys i'd be very hard pressed not to react in a very physical way.