How to Help a Grieving Dog

Dogs are intuitive animals and grieve when someone in the house or their owner dies. A dog may also grieve the loss of another dog within the house, particularly if they were close. Here are our tips on how to help a grieving dog.

Symptoms of a Grieving Dog

• Awkward behavior
• Appetite loss
• Growling too long
• Sleeping too long
• Not obeying commands
• Unfriendly activities
• Depression and lethargy

The above symptoms are majorly seen in your pets if it still grieving over the loss of someone. If you are worried about your pets’ pitiful status, you have to take the necessary steps for its normal life as before. Either you can console the pet on your own or you can consult experienced pet owners or a veterinarian for your help and suggestions. You should know how to help a grieving dog on his owner’s demise.

How to help a dog grieve its owner?

Extra affection is required

The loss of a cherished companion would make the pet feel very bad for a long time. If the grieving signs are long and unending then you need to take immediate steps to prevent it from becoming sick and dull. First of all, you should understand the pets’ emotions and grievances so that you can help your pets to feel comfortable. So, try to spend a lot of time with your dog and give extra affection. Also, you need to provide pet meals regularly in spite of its bad state. If possible provide your pet special treats so that it can feel sound as expected. This additional love and affection can have a great impact on your pets positively.

Never skip the regular routine

You should not skip off any routine schedule of the dog and have to proceed further as before. Take your dog for routine walking and provide it with regular food it eats earlier. Sticking to the regular routine is the basic task to continue by all the pet lovers. Do not change the meals that you give it to the pets. Give your pet nice and healthy food items without any change.

Be calm and patient

Never feel disturbed or uncomfortable during your dog’s mourning period. It needs some time to recover from disasters. You have to be calm and patient with your pets so that your pets can come out of the issues after some time. It might take some months, or days or even weeks to recover and so you need to cope with its grievance time as much as possible You have to be prepared mentally for its recovering phase.

Do not show your bad feeling to your pets

It is highly important that you have to cover your bad mental state by not showing to the pets. You might be disturbed due to the loss of your companion in the house which dogs do not know. Hence, you have to act like a normal person and talk to the pet with affection. Pretend as if nothing happened in the house and let your pet to feel normal when you speak or play with it. Command at it gently to do some activities like before so that your pets can fall in line very soon. Give it some daily tasks like throwing the ball, filling the pit, toy playing, etc

Show your happy face

Try to mourn separately instead of mourning in front of your dogs. Your pet can understand your feeling and hence you need to pretend that you are fine in all aspects. Your happy face may give it a new life and hassle-free mind. So, hide your grief if any, and be like a happy person in all situations.

Talk to your dogs

when you speak with your dog never talk for a namesake and instead speak like before. You need to show your affection through speech and hence use kind words. You need to talk to the dog when you walk with it as it would improve its status further.

Other activities for consoling your pet

You can groom the dog with kind attention. You can also try going for a car ride with the pets to reinstate the dog’s earlier status. The most lovable place for your pet would be the dog park and hence never miss visiting the park. Take your pet to a dog store for selecting a new toy for playing. Your dog might feel very fresh and active when you give it a new toy for playing with.

consult a veterinarian

If your pets continue to mourn without stop then you have to take it to the veterinarian. The doctor would analyze your pets’ condition and may treat it with proper medications for its depression and anxiety You can consult the doctor about your pets’ long sleeping hours at the house, its lethargic status, and an inactive lifestyle. You can get suggestions from the doctor for the proper lifestyle of your pets.

how to help a dog grieve the loss of another dog?

Your pet needs extra support and love from you particularly if it loses another dog. The grievance might last for several months together and hence you need to support your pets in all aspects. Never leave the pet alone and instead be with it for most of the time till it recovers. Never show your attitude to the dog as it might get worst. Be patient and keep cool to your pet even if it does not obey you. The dog’s inappropriate attitude and behavior are temporary due to the loss of its’ companion. So, you have to cope with its behavior and mental state without getting tempted.

Rewarding for the behavior

Never rewarding them for the behavior at you and instead please it during good behavior. Never encourage if it involves in bad behavior by long growling, and whining. Treat her with most respect when it sits quietly at you or in some other place. This treatment would teach your pet about its behavior. Never forget to treat and greet your pets nicely if it moves so amicably.

A good companion for your pets

If you wish or think that a new companion would do something best to your pets then you can proceed further. However, have a deep consultation with other people in the house about your dog’s behavior if you bring in a new dog either an old or a puppy. This might have some impact on your present dog because it either loves the new one or feels hatred. Some dogs do not like the new people entry into the house either a new human or a new dog. Some dogs love welcoming the new people inside the house. So, you need to understand your dogs; attitude, and emotions for a new company. Understand its grievance level and try to pacify it with some new actions like bringing a good companion. If your dog is very old consider bringing some young pet inside the house. This would help your dog to move freely with the new one and it might take care of the young ones. If your pet is a young one then consider bringing an old one to accompany it. The new entry might change the mindset of your pets a lot than expected. So think deeply and act accordingly.

You need not get a new puppy from the pet store for the above action. Instead of buying a new one, you can get a dog from your known sources for checking. If your pets love playing and cuddling with the new dog, then you decide to get a new puppy from the pet store.

The above activity is confirmed by a few testing tasks by you. Yes, you can take your pet to a crowded park and check its action. If your dog is happy to mingle with other dogs in the park then it is a clear conclusion that your pet would embrace a new dog. If it does not mingle and feel depressed then you should not think about the new companion for your pet.

You can also think from different angles of bringing a same-aged dog for your pet. Sometimes, age does matter a lot for your pets.

Never transfer your dog

In any case, do not ever transfer your grieving dog to another family. This would disturb your dog completely and it would lead to disaster.