Euthanization question??? the dog left behind.

[imported_Matty]

Hi, I was just wondering about a topic which just came up with a few of my doggy friends. One of my friends said that she was really ticked off when she had her older dog euthanized as the vet would not allow her to bring her other dog for the procedure. She said the only way for the other dog to get over the death of the dog PTS was to see it and see the dog dead. She said that in a pack the dogs dealt with death by seeing it and moving on. She said that her dog which was left never recovered from the loss of the other dog and slowly got sick with depression and started all sorts of problems stemming from depression. like licking itself raw and stuff.
Now, for me, I have had dogs PTS before and it has never seemed to affect my remaining dog. I cried myself silly before going home, put on a act of nothing is wrong and life went on as normal.
So, my question. The remaining dog which seems to be sad and depressed over the dog which was PTS. Is it sad and depressed because of the loss of the other dog, or the new mood of the owner. The owner being depressed makes the dog depressed????
I have had many dogs which have been litter mates and grown up together and loved and played and spent every second of the day together and never have the suffered the loss like my friends dog did. They just picked up on my cue and how I felt at the time.
What does every one else think, am I wrong and my friend right. Or are my dogs just abnormal?

[BuddysMom]

I don't know the answer, but it seems to me it would be best if the other dog could see his companion gone. I was JUST thinking about this about 1 hour ago, because my mom will probably need to have her older dog PTS within the week and is planning to have the vet come to her home ... I was thinking it would be a good idea to let Rebel see Teddy's body after he has gone to the bridge ... then Rebel could understand Teddy's absence. I am really interested to see what others think about this issue!

[ObedienceGrrl]

We didn't have Scooter with us when we lost Shadee.....nor did we have Shasta with us when we lost Scooter.

But each time, we did bring home the blanket we had wrapped each dog in for the dog that was at home. The reaction was different for each dog.

Scooter was devestated. I do'nt know what hurt more. The fact that we had lost Shadee.....or watching Scooter. Scooter would take Shadee's toys and sleep on them. As many as she could grab and hide, she would. Also, when we brought her cremated remains home, we had planned to bury them in a box with her collar, favorite toy, and plant a weeping cherry over them. Well, we weren't going to pick up the cherry tree for a few days, but still burried her remains. Scooter laid on the ground above them for days. It was awful.....

Shasta was upset when we lost Scooter, but she recovered much quicker.

Scooter and Shadee were closer in age. Scooter being 10 at the time, and Shadee was only 8.5. Then we got Shasta.....so her and Scooter were almost 10 years apart. We lost Scooter 6 years later.

I believe they greive.....just like we do. And I also believe they need some type of closure. We did that with the blanket....

[imported_Debbie]

I think each dogs personality is different and depends on their relationship with the dog that died.
I know my Sassy loves playing with her sisters, but I have a feeling she'd love to be an only child.....errrr..I mean dog !! :oops: :lol:

[imported_Matty]

Thanks for the opinions. I thought at one time that it was the owners attitude toward the death of the other dog. But, it sounds as though our dogs do feel greif over the lose of a loved one.

I know my Sassy loves playing with her sisters, but I have a feeling she'd love to be an only child.....errrr..I mean dog !!

:lol: Debbie, I think this is the same reason my dogs didnt greive :lol: I think basically deep down in my evil little dogs minds they were glad to be the only dog for a little while :D

[courtnek]

I think it depends on the animal, and how close they were in some cases, but I also think the owners attitude affects them as well. They can sense things like that. Freebee missed Alex when he was gone, and looked for him, but never seemed depressed, just questioning. She is much happier now that theres another dog. When I had to put my Golden down, his best-friend-the-cat was devastated. Insisted on sleeping with the cannister with the ashes in it. so I think its a combination of the two.

[Horsefeathers!]

With the number of dogs I have plus the fact that we foster, I think my dogs are used to seeing dogs coming and going. Whether they leave for a permanent home or die, the other dogs don't seem to actually miss them. When my beloved little Yorkie died a couple of years ago (my heart of hearts dog that I swore I would never get over losing), I took it really hard and my dogs did seem depressed. I am sure they were reacting to my grief rather than the actual loss of Goober. Since then, other dogs have come and gone (placed in permanent homes or died) and the rest of the gang seems not to notice. There are a couple of really close relationships among my dogs that I do expect to change their "partner's" life when they leave... Perry & Pauly and Missy & Peanut. This sounds so bad, but I hope every day that Pauly goes before Perry does because I truly think Pauly will deteriorate without Perry. He clings to him as if his very life depends on it.

Other than that, my gang really doesn't seem to grieve if one is gone. Maybe they don't realize the finality of the dead ones' departure.

[Guest Anonymous]

I know when Ariel was put to sleep Bobbie her life long buddy (As in Ariel was 6 months old when Bobbie joined our life) and Belle who was always at Ariel's side both suffered from depression. I cried myself silly before going home...we even wasted time at my parents house so we were calm. We went home and acted like nothing happened.

Bobbie didn't eat for a week and Belle...well she had a seizure two days after Ariel was PTS. She hasn't had one since. She wasn't eating and moping around....then boom the seizure hit. It was a bad one as far as any I've known.

I believe it can stress them out for a long time member of their pack/family to be gone. I've watched my dogs go through different phases of not eating...not wanting to play after a favored foster was adopted out but this time was different than any of those. They knew she was GONE!

[mouseatthebusstop]

when we decided the time was right to let Poppy go -we talked things over with our vet a few days before- he offered to come to our own home to do it -but I said I didn't want Paddy & Gladis to think it was his fault Poppy had gone-
Gladis was very upset she would run around the house looking for Poppy

[Cairn6]

We had a lab mix Scooby that was euthanized when our dog Brandy was 5 and she wasn't overly depressed but when we were on walks and she would see a black dog she would get excited and would try to go to him/her.

When Brandy was 12 we got Toto she loved Toto and would try to play with him but had really bad knees to fix torn cruciate ligament on both knees. She ended up only living 6 months after he came she died liver failure from I believe the Rymadyl we were giving her for the pain after the surgeries. Anyway Toto couldn't of cared less. I think all the feelings were on Brandy's side. Toto didn't even look for her. He is awfully self centered anyway. :lol:

[eric]

That is so sad and touching with Scooter. I always wonder how my boys are going to react.

I know that when we take one of them on their own somewhere - to the vet for example - and come back, the other dogs totally ignore us (instead of greeting as normal) and greet the dog that was separated. I have a feeling that when the first one goes, the others are going to take it hard.

ObedienceGrrl napisał(a):

We didn't have Scooter with us when we lost Shadee.....nor did we have Shasta with us when we lost Scooter.

But each time, we did bring home the blanket we had wrapped each dog in for the dog that was at home. The reaction was different for each dog.

Scooter was devestated. I do'nt know what hurt more. The fact that we had lost Shadee.....or watching Scooter. Scooter would take Shadee's toys and sleep on them. As many as she could grab and hide, she would. Also, when we brought her cremated remains home, we had planned to bury them in a box with her collar, favorite toy, and plant a weeping cherry over them. Well, we weren't going to pick up the cherry tree for a few days, but still burried her remains. Scooter laid on the ground above them for days. It was awful.....

Shasta was upset when we lost Scooter, but she recovered much quicker.

Scooter and Shadee were closer in age. Scooter being 10 at the time, and Shadee was only 8.5. Then we got Shasta.....so her and Scooter were almost 10 years apart. We lost Scooter 6 years later.

I believe they greive.....just like we do. And I also believe they need some type of closure. We did that with the blanket....