Re: [PyrNet-L] What happened

["Judith Stroh Miller" <jsmiller@newmex.com>]

On 28 Jul 99, at 8:41, Susan Wachter wrote:

> I never finished my tale so as not to be morbid.  When Abbott died, Shane
> dragged around for month even tho we had a bitch.  Eventually Shane perked
> back up.  Unfortunately about a year later when he developed bone cancer.
> It wasn't a month after his passing the bitch, Stella his sister,  died in
> her sleep.  Broken heart?  We don't know. 

Grief in pyrs is real, at least that has been my experience.  My 
oldest girl Mishka is a very serious dog. She's the alpha of this 
pack of dogs and lets none of them forget it. The helps raise the 
young ones, and keeps her own style of order.  She has experienced 3 
losses here that affected her deeply.  Her behavior was amazing, not 
to mention heart breaking. Her first loss was a mixed breed male I 
had who raised her.  She was sad, lethargic, went out for several 
mornings and stood on his grave.  The second loss was my father, whom 
she adored.  For months she went through the house looking for him.  
The 3rd and hardest loss was our horse, who she perceived as her 
charge.  I thought I was going to lose her for several weeks after I 
had the horse put down.  Again she went out and would lay down on the 
grave.  She would not eat, immediately started vomiting water, after 
the horse was down.  It took 9 days to get her to eat.  I would find 
her hiding behind chairs or in corners of rooms she did not usually 
go into. She would not sleep in my room at night, or do her usual 
check to be sure I was okay.  I would get up and look for her and she 
would be all alone, hiding. When she was outside, she would pace back 
and forth and did not bark for weeks. < that was a sign that things 
were definitely wrong>. These deaths were all in the first 3 years of 
her life.  The last one about did her in.

When the blue heeler became ill, Mishka knew Audrey was on her way 
out and decided she was going to help things along.  I had to 
separate them as Mishka would try and attack her for no reason.  They 
had never been pals and Mishka barely tolerated her. Audrey was the 
first dog I did not bring home to bury, I had her cremated.  Whether 
this was the reason there were no signs of grief, or whether they 
knew a sick dog was no longer here, or if Mishka did just not like 
her, she did not react like the previous times.  But after Audrey was 
gone, the pack order was disrupted for a month or more.  Some of the 
younger dogs trying to move up.  More grumbling and cross eyes than 
normal.  Everyone got serious lectures for quite a few weeks.

Last week my neighbor lost a dog and his companion dog was very 
upset.  I did not know this until later in the day, but when I came 
home for lunch, all my dogs were upset, walking the fenceline at the 
property next door and barking more than usual. The dog next door has 
continued to be upset, barking and howling at night.  I will find my 
dogs by the fence, especially my male, who seems to want to be close 
to his neighbor dog. He will just lay down close to the fence, trying 
to look through one of the cracks.
Pyrs do like order in their lives, much of this behavior may be 
because there has been a change they do not understand.  But with 
Mishka, I feel she was truly grieving the losses she endured.


Judith
jsmiller@newmex.com
Taos, New Mexico