Anyone got any ideas on how to cheer up a dog that has just lost his friend?

The problem for many of our dogs is very often our animals are pts at the vets, to the remaining dog or dogs they have no idea what has happened to their pack member, they often are left waiting.... and waiting...... for the return, how long does a dog wait, some for a short while and then they accept it, others will wait for a looooong time.

I always now bring any deceased animals home for others to sniff and understand, if they have not just passed at home or been pts at home.

The thing is we of course feel sad and upset too, which also translates to our remaining dog/s, but there is nothing wrong with the grief process, a remaining dog will undoubtedly miss it's friend, to help after a few days be as upbeat as you can encourage him/her to play little games with you, and offer lots of tlc, nice walks and lots of attention.

Dogs get into a routine of eating, exercise and having a human to connect with and soon enough are just getting on with things again without their other dog/s around, the tail soon starts wagging and life is good again. He/she will be ok.

Poor thing :( All you can do is fill his days with activity...anything so he doesn't mope and fret - walks in new places, one to one games and training, quiet grooming/stroking/scratching love sessions, a new activity like joining a local dog club.....will all help the human too! (((hugs))) xxx

I have recently lost one of my chins and my youngster was really down for a few days. I did bring my dog back from the vets and lay him in his bed in the living room. all the dogs had a good sniff of him and I think they understood that he had gone,harry the youngest got into the basket with him and stayed cuddled up beside him until we buried him in the garden.
I let the dogs watch me bury him and now four weeks on I often see Harry go and sit by this spot in the garden,the other dogs don't bother.
We have joined a new training club and I think this has helped but like people who are grieving it just takes time.It is only Harry that appears to miss Sunshine,the others don't appear to be upset at all,but day by day he seems to be less upset.

I think it has helped that he still has other dogs around and also I'm not as upset as I was a few weeks ago. Give your dog a little bit tlc and more importantly time, it is the only real healer

I feel so sorry for you and your dog. I know it can take quite a while before they seem to accept that their friend isn't coming back. The tips given to you are all good ideas and should help.

Do you have any other dogs? We have several but when we lost our old boy in the autumn, his best dog friend was really upset, so sad to see. Even though he lives in a multi-dog household, he was quartered at nights with his old friend and we realised that he'd never slept on his own before. We rejigged our sleeping arrangements and that helped.

Mostly it will just take a bit of time. Hope it won't be too long.

No we don't have any other dogs and I don't feel ready for another yet!

We have always gone to training classes for the social side of things and we have a class tomorrow which will hopefully cheer him up!

I am also going to arrange a doggy walk with some friends so he can play with them... Hopefully it helps!! Poor baby :(

Anyone got any ideas on how to cheer up a dog that has just lost his friend?

Yes let them do what they seem to want to around the house, after my last loss, the other dog (this one) just went to lie in a stairwell on her own, I put a duvet down and she just stayed there apart from meals & walks, she simply wanted to be alone & not have much interaction with me or anything else, it was 'her way' of dealing with 'her' loss & thats what its all about, same for humans as well. She came out of it after around 2 weeks & Ive had no peace & quiet ever since.

>Anyone got any ideas on how to cheer up a dog that has just lost his friend?

I think some of the problem is that we are also dealing with our own feelings of grief. Our remaining dogs pick up on the fact that we are sad/unhappy and maybe they understand why or maybe they don't. Either way, they sense that 'something' is amiss. My advice would be to give them (and yourself) time. Try doing things that you and they enjoy, but don't force the issue. Try and be as 'normal' as possible. It takes time to adjust but I am sure all will be well in the end.

In March my younger dog lost not only his 'brother' but also his dad (my husband). He was very depressed for a couple of weeks and took to following me every time I left the room. He had never been left in the house on his own so I had to slowly build up the time  - I started by leaving him alone for a few minutes and he now manages a couple of hours. To be honest I needed to be with him as much as he needed to be with me.  We're now 7 weeks on and things are improving daily......so really it's just a case of giving your dog as much time and attention as you can. They can and do adapt.

My dog found it hard to cope when we had our little cat pts. They were very close and spent many happy hours curled up together in bed. There wasn't anything we could do, he wanted to sit alone and had very little interaction with us for a couple of weeks. We'd see him wander around the garden looking under the hedges where his friend used to curl up in the sun and then he'd sit and look backwards and forwards along the top of the fence, waiting for him to walk along. He definitely understood that his friend had been very poorly and had been very gentle with him during the last few days, but seeing our dog so upset was hard, but he coped in his own way.