We lost our cherished, beloved Lincoln this past Saturday. Our entire family is devastated and lost without him. We humans understand that Lincoln is at the Bridge in complete comfort and peace.

Sadly his best friend, sidekick and constant companion doesn't understand. She is lost without him and is spending her whole day either on his bed or in her crate. She doesn't even want to go out without him.

It's heartbreaking. How can I help her?

I'm so sorry for your family's loss. From past experience in our family, give it time. As you feel better, so will they but it will take patience and in our case, it took over 6 months for things to get back to the "new" normal.

She;'s not griveing the other dog, she is being affected by your mood. When you start acting normally she will too.

I am sorry for your loss.

I agree with giving it time. I had a similar issue when I lost a beloved dog and his companion grew very depressed for a period of time. Yes, he was impacted by my mood as well, but not entirely. He was totally fine during the loss of a human family member that did not live with us, even though we were upset. HIS pack changed with the loss of the other dog, who was the dominant dog. Keeping a routine helped, especially for this particular dog as he thrives on routine. I also had a third dog that was much younger, and they eventually developed their own bond and routine.

Some dogs are funny - this is my "middle" child who has never been a "only dog" and does better with other dogs in the house. My other dogs have always seemed to enjoy the opportunity to be the only dog when they get the chance.

I had this happen once when I lost two older dogs in quick succession, leaving my youngest dog as an only dog for the first time in her life. I borrowed a dog while his family was on vacation and eventually got a puppy. She at first wanted nothing to do with the puppy; it wasn't her old buddy. But in a few months they became good friends. Would she have eventually recovered if I hadn't gotten the puppy? I don't know. But I was used to having more than one dog, too. If a second dog isn't an option, maybe you could arrange for play dates with another dog.

I'm sorry for your loss. Grief can be very real in some sensitive dogs. Doing rescue, we have had some Labs actually go off food for weeks. Imagine a young Lab who wouldn't eat more than a small mouthful of even steak or bacon for a couple weeks, who came back normal on all the blood tests we could run. It was awful. The foster home, who worked for a conventional vet, finally agreed to try Bach Flower Remedies, especially Rescue Remedy, which is now sold even in Cherrybrook. Within minutes, Mulligan ate and drank. Finally!
I have added a link to Bach Flower remedies for pets, for informational purposes. Sometimes the Brits know best on this breed.
Oh, and take some yourself. It will help you, too. I've even brought a Lab with a ruptured spleen out of shock long enough for us to get her to the vet for surgery with this. The color came back just enough for the vet to NOT believe me at first.

I'm going to respectfully disagree, animals do grieve. And it is heartbreaking because they don't understand what happened.

We humans are comforted by talking about the loved one that we lost, sharing stories, reading old letters, watching old videos of times with them. Dogs heal from a loss much the same way. Keep her mate "included" in her life by taking his favorite toy on your walk or using his leash, let her sleep in his bed,(which she is probably already doing!!) keep going to the places you used to take both of them, softly speak his name every now and then etc. All sounds like a crock but it will help you all heal.

Good luck and I'm so sorry for your family's loss.

I'm going to not so respectively disagree.
Animals DO grieve.
I sure hope whoever made this comment doesn't have any, feel sorry for them.

Don't you have three dogs, Liz? What is the other one doing?

No, just the two.

Oh, I'm sorry. What did she do when you lost the other one?

Liz:
Animals absolutely do grieve. Some are very obvious while others more subtle.. When we lost our Appy a couple of years back, our young horse Hokey paced for days on end.. the last time he saw him was when we loaded him in the trailer. He was a rescue and we were fostering him. We brought him back to the rescue to send him to the bridge. A few months later we lost our 44 yr old Paint Eddy. We sent him to the bridge with Hokey in his own stall right next to him.. Eddy had to stay in the barn that night as we could not get a backhoe until early morning. Hokey was calm and serene the entire time and never paced...He was an only horse at the time having lost 2 buddies within months of one another.. I make it a practice before I bury my beloved to allow the others to sniff and aknowledge the passing. I find that helps tremendously.. I think because your pup is an only right now, the loss must be difficult and very lonely... Maybe some play dates with friend's dogs,, taking a fun trick class, picnics and outings together. I am sorry.. It's hard enough to suffer the loss ourselves, but to watch another pup grieve is doubly hard..

RIP Lincoln.

I'm going to not so respectively disagree, as well. I certainly believe animals DO grieve.

Last year, when my MoMo died unexpectedly/suddenly my boy grieved for months .. although, true to a Lab he never stopped eating. She died (actually, literally dropped dead) near the front door. It took weeks for him to go out that door. He wouldn't play with toys, me or any of his K-9 friends. Basically he ate, relieved himself and slept. He wouldn't even lay on the couch with me like the 3 of us always did. It was very sad. Then, one day out of the blue he brought me his favorite ducky and came back to life. I know he (still) misses her terribly. In my sunroom I have 2 dog beds .. he still (after an entire year) won't lay on her bed.

Yes, some dogs absolutely grieve for the loss of a friend, human or otherwise. I saw the look on the face of my first Lab when she discovered our cat had died, it was pure grief. My husband and I knew exactly what she had found without seeing the cat.
Animals absolutely have emotions. Labradors maybe even more so, since they were bred and "hard wired" to be responsive companions, return game to the owner in a cooperative hunting venture, assistance dogs, etc.
I have been told by a behaviorist to not get a new dog or puppy in the house for at least two weeks, as sometimes the grieving dog associates the new dogs' sudden appearance as somehow being the reason for the beloved's death. And yes, it definitely helps to have the remaining dog see and sniff the deceased companion, they understand better what has happened.
Be patient and spend as much time as you can with the grieving dog, going for walks, one on one attention, it will gradually get better.
So sorry for your loss.

http://www.theonion.com/articles/stop-anthropomorphizing-me,11459/

That was really nice of you to post that link. Very helpful and caring. I wonder if your family thinks *you* are a dog.

The only thing that lessens the grief is time, it's an individual experience for all, man or dog.
I'm going to respectfully disagree too that animals are only feeding off of our emotions.

Our foundation bitch fell into a deep depression after her daughter was struck by a car in front of her and we had to let her go, she was able to say goodbye but of all the dogs she was the most affected,some of the others were a bit subdued and some not so much.She hardly wanted to eat or drink and she NEVER left my side for over a month and then gradually came around. I was worried enough that I asked the vet about is and he asked if they were close, when I told them they were mother/daughter he said "Oooh that's bad!" give her time, their bond was obviously pretty strong.

Then years later in rapid succession we lost our youngest Parson Russell at just 8 years old only 2 days before Thanksgiving and then our Jack Russell at 12 years old just 2 weeks later, our only other "little" dog fell into such a funk that she would only get out from under the covers to eat and pee, and she would hold it for upwards of 18 hours.She couldn't have been feeding off of us, we were at peace with having been blessed with them for so long as for both dogs had serious health conditions and while we had to put one down the other died at home. Our JRT's best friend and constant companion was our foundation bitch,she knew what was happening and stayed with her until about an hour before Briar passed and then she nudged and licked her and walked away. She's the one who was so depressed so many years before and at least this time it wasn't so severe. For Caydee it was just too much not to have her other little buddies. We got a Min Pin from rescue just 5 days before Christmas and it took a few days but Caydee finally started to come out of it.

I can go on about individual dogs in our house being affected by the ones they are bonded with most,and even stories about horses that have died and their horse friends grieved so and it is touching to know that even they feel the losses too.