Posted on July 10, 2009 by: WayCoolDogs

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Grief is a normal reaction regarding the loss of someone we love.  A dog’s grief is no different when they lose a dear canine comrade due to an accident, old age or sickness. When our Popcorn recently passed away, her sidekick Trixie quit eating and now refuses to come back inside the house. Instead, she has chosen an old dog house far back in the yard where she has chosen to stay all the time. Obviously very upset and lethargic,  she has chosen to handle her grief in her own way by retreating from the world.

Trixie is getting closer and closer to 20 years of age, and is a medium-sized Pomeranian. We had rescued her from a kennel several years back, a dog who was used to spending her entire days in her kennel and had been used seriously for breeding through her life in several kennels. When we brought her here, we left her kennel door open to begin her new life as an elderly retiree’. Very skittery and afraid of anyone, we could not pet her or communicate with her until our Cairn Terrier, ol’ Popcorn stepped in the picture.

A DOG’S TRAINING

Popcorn took Trixie under her wing. Maybe their old age was their bond like older people today who prefer one another’s company. She took to sleeping with her, eating with her, and whenever Popcorn went outside to toilet…Trixie went along with her.  Eventually, when Popcorn would beg for treats, Trixie would slowly come into the background for her share.

Over the years, Trixie allowed us to pet her and hold her–slowly coming to realize her name and who she was as an individual. When she would become terrified when lightening storms drew close, she snuggled close to Popcorn who somehow would make things better for her. They eventually became the best of friends.

REVERSED COMPANIONSHIP

When Popcorn began to mentally withdraw from the world and forms of dementia began to set in, Trixie seemed to realize she needed support. You would very seldom find them apart except Trixie was the one in charge now. She would lead Popcorn outside as if to remind her it was time to toilet and to help her find the way to the exercise pen. She remained next to her while she slept…even until Popcorn’s final days.

When Popcorn left us, Trixie has been left without her best friend and is showing what a dog’s grief is all about. Her support and comrade is gone, who showed her the way to a different and better world.  It is up to us to help her find her way back in her elderly years to show her things are still okay. We have another elderly old dog, Barbie, who has adopted Trixie as if she knows there is a need. A twenty-year old miniature American Eskimo, Barbie is very gentle and sweet. Also rescued from a lifetime of breeding, she is a joyful little ol’ lady who does not know an enemy. And she may be Trixie’s salvation as right now, they are sleeping together under the elm tree.

UPDATE: Trixie does not want to be friends with Barbie. You see…Barbie is a dog and dogs leave her as so many others have done in her past.

Somehow, I have come to that conclusion as Trixie will not bond with any dog on the property. The friend she has chosen is me, a human.  She greets me in the morning on the way to the coffee pot with increased vigor that I haven’t seen before. She barks me all the way to the table where she rubs on my legs and is happy I haven’t left her during the night. Of course, she fully realizes soon she will have her breakfast, with  warm chicken and dry mix ‘specially made!

Once she has eaten, she finds her way out to her new igloo dog house with a shade over it where she is content to be by herself and naps most of the day away from the other girls. I have come to the conclusion one day I will find her out there, sleeping her final sleep to be with her best friend Goldie.

It will be hard…but someone she and I have made a pac….I have accepted she prefers to allow me near her at her terms, not mine. She has accepted the fact I will always be here for her….always. We have become best of buddies united by our unbearable grief for our loss of our loved ol’ Popcorn.

Shall we, because we walk on our hind feet, assume to ourselves only the [pain and ] privilege of imperishability?

George Eliot

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