Doggy bereavement

[Lizzydrippin2511]

Hi, I am new to the forum so hello everyone, thank you for having me
I was hoping for some advice, My schnauzer, Bruce, recently passed away age only nine years old, I also have a schnoodle who is age six and he has never known life without his big brother. He is a completely different dog at the moment, much quieter and subdued when we are there but barking constantly if we have to leave him on his own at all. We looked at the idea of a puppy but as the prices have gone up so much and after the vet's bill with Bruce, we can not afford one at the moment. Does anyone have any advice on how to make things better for our little dog, what I might be doing wrong etc? Thank you, Lizzy

[zeta1454]

Welcome to the Forum Lisa

So sorry to read about Bruce - that is sad to lose a dog at a young age.

As regards getting another puppy, that doesn't always resolve the bereavement for a dog that is grieving. The bond with Bruce will have been quite special and, although a puppy might be a distraction it may not be a substitute for the loss of a best friend. So I would not worry about not having the means to get a pup just now.

Other ways you could try to distract your dog are through extra walks or going to places that he loves to explore, try doing some training exercises with him (doggy parkour or scent work)
Set up a kibble trail in your garden or in one of your rooms if that is possible when the weather is bad - hide treats for him to seek out. You can also get challenge games to hide treats in such as the Nina Ottosson range:

https://www.petsathome.com/shop/en/pets ... a-ottosson

Our dogs love doing these.

Give him plenty of TLC which I am sure you are and try to keep to your normal routines as much as possible - this is a stressful and sad time for you all and your emotions will also be affecting your dog. You are probably not doing anything wrong at all but the grieving may take a little while to resolve. Do you have any friend or family member who might be able to sit with your dog when you go out if he is getting really stressed by being left?

You could try a DAP diffuser which is said to help calm anxious dogs and which are often used at vet surgeries in the areas where pets are kept awaiting surgery:

https://www.vetuk.co.uk/dog-behaviour-c ... er-kit-p-6

A Thunder Shirt can sometimes also help relieve anxiety in dogs:

https://www.viovet.co.uk/Thundershirt-P ... gIvo_D_BwE

There are also these herbal tablets which can help calm a dog:

https://www.dorwest.com/product/scullca ... gJ7APD_BwE

The above are all just possible suggestions and I would not necessarily try all of them at once but maybe give you something to think about

[lj_thorne]

When we lost Barnaby, Albert my next oldest really really struggled. He was withdrawn and totally lost his spark. When I took Sherman out for walks and left him alone he howled!

Albert is quite a reactive dog so has had a lot of behaviouralist input and he was on dorwests skullcap and valerian so I swapped him over to yucalm which seemed to take the edge off his sadness.

Also I did things that he loved to do so he succeeded in everything! Ballie, tricks he could do already, he had lickimats and other enrichment activities to make him happy as he loves food!

Slowly and it prob took about 6 months he came back to us. So I think give it time, I also struggled massively and this also had an effect on Albert.

[Moustache_dog]

I know this post started a little while ago, but it's really helped us in the last couple of days with supporting Casper. Casper appeared very subdued after we lost Bertie suddenly on Thursday and seemed quite lost. Even after a couple of days, the scent work has been particularly successful and Casper is much more himself. He still sometimes looks for Bertie but that's understandable after being together for 8 years and because Bertie was the dog in charge.

The only slight concern is his eating now. Casper seems mostly happy in himself but is not really that interested in food. He is drinking okay but is not interested in his dental sticks and is having to be coaxed into eating his dinner. He was quite a greedy guts before . I wondered if anybody else had come across this before or if they had any suggestions?

[Dawnspell]

I wouldnt be too worried at the moment if hes not losing weight. Trauma can be funny it can make you want to overeat or not eat at all. I wouldnt try to start making an issue of it, trying to get him to eat food if he doesnt want it can be punishing for a dog.

You could offer it in different ways. If he has dried food try animating it by getting excited then rolling it along the floor, or scattering it on the ground so he can sniff it out. Putting food in empty plastic bottles or egg boxes to knock it out or a cardboard box filled with paper and scatter the food in. Wet you could use lick mats, stuffed hooves with normal food. Jasper loves it if I put wet or dry food in the cup bit of a ball thrower and he trots around doing twists and all sorts following it for the treat.

[Moustache_dog]

Thanks Alison. To be honest, Casper is a bit chubby anyway so it wouldn’t matter if he lost a bit of weight!!

He’s been a lot better at eating over the past couple of days. We made sure he wasn’t under any pressure to eat and just let him know his dinner was ready. He likes somebody in the kitchen with him when he eats though so maybe he feels strange eating by himself?