Bedtime routine for grieving pet

bluejelly

Hi, as mentioned in another thread, we lost our 4 yr old lab last wkd when she passed away in her sleep. My 2 yr old lab is grieving but is coping ok when she has company which is almost the whole day apart from a few mins here & there. The biggest issue at the moment is her bedtime routine. The 1st night I slept downstairs with her ( she is petrified of the stairs so we have no hope of getting her upstairs), 2nd night we put her to bed in the utility, where both dogs slept every night. My husband checked on her 30 mins later and she was fine but when I came down in the morning she was scared so for the next 2 nights one of us slept downstairs with her again. Tried her in utility again with same result in the morning so we went back to sleeping downstairs with her. I don't want her to be scared as she is a nervous dog & i have no problem sleeping downstairs if I knew it was just comfort she needed for a few weeks, I just don't want to making things harder for her in the long term. Is sleeping downstairs a bad habit to give her? Would it be better to put her in the utility for an hour or so and increase this every few nights? Thanks

MadYaker

As far as I'm aware dogs don't have the metal capacity to grieve. They do like company though so id say rather than missing the other dog, she just doesn't like sleeping on her own as she isn't used to it. Id say try leaving here in there for a longer time every night and eventually she will forget the other dog ever existed and get used to sleeping on her own.

SingItOut

From experience Dogs do grieve and mourn the loss of other pets/people, my own terrier was devastated when my Labrador died. She didn't eat, wouldn't go for a walk, lost a ton of weight and was just in general very quiet and down in herself for months until we adopted a new dog. Dogs definitely do have the capacity to grieve.

If your dog isn't "complaining" during the night when you are not sleeping with her then I wouldn't keep checking on her as she'll soon start to expect it every night. You could try giving her a kong toy filled with her favorite treat going to bed or even giving her a treat in the morning if she's been quiet during the night. It'll take her a couple of weeks to adjust to being on her own but she'll get there eventually

aonb

agree with Singitout.
When our elderly dog was in vets for a few days, our anxious younger dog was
inconsolable. When we went to bed at night he used to howl and be very stressed on his own. Solution we came up with, was a frozen peanut butter filled kong, and put the radio on low, so the room wasnt totally silent. We also gave him a 'teddy' (ok the last one was us being total wimps, but he LOVES his teddy now)

bluejelly

Thanks all for the replies.......I do believe also that pets grieve, the spring in my labs step is gone since last wkd, she searches for my older lab and curls up on the couch with really sad eyes when she can't find her. There are lots of other small changes too with her. She has been refusing her frozen kong this past week which is very unlike her. Aonb it's funny but I put a teddy in with her last night & my jumper so hopefully that will help! Might try the radio too for a bit...........thanks again

aonb

Your jumper is an excellent idea - worn rather than clean. If she doesnt want her kong lately try to get a few raw bones maybe, or some long lasting chews - anything that will last a bit, is very yummy, and will distract her from being on her own til she settles for the night.

VERY best wishes to you and your lonely Lab.