The death of a dog can be devastating for families, but new evidence from Italy suggests surviving dogs can also be profoundly affected by the loss, resulting in an assortment of behavioral changes that scientists say are consistent with grieving.
That dogs are capable of grieving may seem obvious to many dog owners, particularly those who have witnessed this very thing—myself included. Indeed, anecdotal accounts of dogs mourning the loss of a companion are common, but knowing the true emotional state of dogs is not easy and we often run the risk of anthropomorphizing our pets.
The new research, published in Scientific Reports and authored by an international group of scientists, tests our instincts on this matter, finding that dogs do indeed exhibit behaviors consistent with mourning. But as the researchers themselves admit, whether this is actual grieving remains an open question.
That said, the paper, co-authored by psychologist Stefania Uccheddu from the University of Padua, suggests we need to be sensitive to the needs of mourning dogs, and that we devise and employ effective strategies to comfort our canines as they adjust to the newly created void in their lives.

For the study, researchers from the University of Milan and several other institutions surveyed 426 dog owners in Italy, asking them to document changes in their dogs following the death of another dog in the same household. A whopping 86% of respondents reported negative changes in their surviving dog, an array of altered behaviors that—at least superficially—resemble signs of grief. The result is not a complete surprise as many animals exhibit mourning-like behaviors, including chimps, elephants, birds, and killer whales.

All respondents had a dog that passed away while they owned at least one other dog, and 66% lost their dog at least one year prior to filling out the survey. The researchers asked the owners to document changes in their surviving dog’s behavior after the death, and to also describe their prior relationship with the dogs and how they themselves dealt with the death of their pet. Of the dogs studied, 93% lived together with another dog for more than one year, while nearly 70% of owners described the relationship with their dogs as being friendly (which, at least to me, seems low—but that’s probably another story worth pursuing).
“Dog owners reported several statistically significant changes in the surviving dog after the death of the companion dog,” the scientists write. Approximately one-third of owners said these changes lasted for between two to six months, while one-quarter said it lasted for longer than half a year. In terms of the altered behaviors, 67% of dogs became more attention-seeking, 57% played less, 46% were less active, 35% slept more and were more fearful than before, 32% ate less, and 30% exhibited more whining or barking. Interestingly, the amount of time the dogs spent together had no effect on the results, according to the study.
In relationships deemed friendly, “the surviving dog was significantly more likely (1.3 times) to play less and to eat more or similar after the death event,” according to the paper. Interestingly, emotional eating has previously been reported in dogs, and it tends to happen more when the dog loses a parent or offspring.
Acquiring these results was a fairly straightforward process—it’s the interpretation of this data that’s the bigger challenge. Can it truly be said that these altered behaviors are signs of grief?
An obvious shortcoming of the paper is that all the results came from self-reported surveys. It’s wholly possible that the owners are misconstruing the behaviors of their surviving dogs, and/or are projecting their own feelings onto their pets, as they themselves are still feeling the effects of the loss. The researchers considered this, but they believe it’s unlikely.
“Surprisingly,” the scientists write, “the owner’s vision of life, humanisation of pets and the view of animals and humans as being on the same continuum … did not correlate with any reported canine behavioural changes occurring after the [companion] died.” The researchers say this is “important because it indicates that the owner is not simply projecting grief on their dog based on their own sentiments; the reported changes are thus more likely to be real.”
Personally, I’m not sold on this interpretation, and I believe the projection of grief should be accounted for. It’s likely not the whole story, but certainly part of the conversation in my opinion. A future study should seek more objective ways of collecting data. It’s also important to consider that the altered, and potentially negative, behaviors of grieving dog owners could be the reason for some of the observed changes in the dogs. As many a dog owner will attest, canines are excellent at picking up on the emotional cues of humans, and they often feed off it, sometimes to detrimental effect.
Another possible explanation for the altered behavior is the sudden disruption of the surviving dog’s routine. As the authors write: “Social animals have a strong tendency to co-operate and synchronise their behaviour, and this happens in domestic dogs as well.” This helps to maintain group cohesion, and it allows animals “to get the benefits of social living, and may be disrupted in the case of a death in the group,” as the paper points out. Strong bonds between dogs can result in integrated routines, “which may explain the changes observed after the death event in the behaviours of surviving dogs,” the scientists say.
It’s also possible that dogs truly have the capacity for attachment, and that the “loss of a conspecific,” as the researchers coldly describe it, “can be considered an interruption of the attachment bond” and an explanation for the observed behaviors. In other words, grief. Or at the very least, separation stress after loss.
If that’s the case, it means we’ve potentially ignored a major welfare issue, as many dogs live with a companion canine. Accordingly, the researchers say it’s important that we gain a better understanding of these behavioral patterns if we’re to truly recognize the emotional needs of dogs.
“However, even if we recognise the importance of these results, we still cannot confirm it was grief,” the scientists conclude. “More research is clearly needed.”​

​My name is Kimberli. I’d like to share with you about my son Aidan and his special relationship with animals, especially a dog named Lily.
 
When Aidan was nine he was diagnosed with a mood dysregulation disorder, along with anxiety and depression. Up until 4th grade, Aidan enjoyed the friendship of two young boys. But, eventually the boys found it hard to handle the stress of Aidan’s erratic emotional shifts so those friendships dissolved. One moved away when his family relocated and the other moved to a different school. The loss of his best friends was devastating for Aidan and left him very lonely, especially at school. It still breaks my heart.
 
Aidan has always had a natural connection with animals. He’s very loving, kind and compassionate with animals of all kinds. During hurricane Harvey, a local dog rescue was collecting leashes to be used for rescuing dogs that were victims of the hurricane, so we gathered some leashes and brought Aidan to the rescue to drop them off. That ignited a spark in Aidan and he donated all his allowance money ($60!) to the rescue for which they in turn named a dog “Aidan” after him to honor his generosity. He also started volunteering with the rescue to walk the dogs there. For Aidan, this was the highlight of each week. He and I would typically walk dogs about three times a week. Then, the rescue made a decision to discontinue the volunteer dog walking after a volunteer accidentally let go of a leash and a dog escaped. Luckily, that dog was found safe. This was another devastating blow for Aidan. The dog walking was something he looked forward to and not only did he get to connect with animals, but it got him exercising which helped with his anxiety and depression. 
 
I started to think of other solutions and decided to reach out to neighbors who had dogs to see if they would hire Aidan to walk their dogs. This is how we connected with our neighbor Barbara. Barbara had a poodle mix named Lily who was in her last phase of life and Barbara thought Aidan should walk her. A beautiful friendship began between the Aidan & Lily … and between Barbara and our family.
 
Barbara credits Aidan for breathing new life into Lily. Every time Lily seemed to be near death, Aidan would visit her and she would perk up. There were times when Lily was really sick and Barbara needed Aidan’s help giving her medication or fluids and Aidan would run over immediately to help comfort Lily—and Barbara. The pandemic made dog walking tricky, but Aidan continued to walk Lily until she eventually passed away in June 2020. Lily wound up living a few years longer than anyone had expected she would.

The relationship Aidan had with Barbara and her two other dogs continued. Aidan started walking one of her male dogs named River. It wasn’t the same connection, but it was still nice for Aidan to have the opportunity and it was nice to continue to visit with Barbara since Barbara had developed a real love for Aidan, as Lily once had. Walking River gave Barbara an opportunity to continue seeing Aidan and vice versa. And it gave Barbara and me a chance to catch up and commiserate about the pandemic. We became close friends and also started grocery shopping for each other during Covid. To this day we still help each other with grocery shopping and we talk/text almost every day. I also continue to walk River at least once a week. 
 
Unfortunately, the pandemic was extremely hard on Aidan. The isolation compounded his depression and anxiety so he was not able to regulate his emotions. We enrolled him in a wilderness therapy program in the summer of 2021 and, following that, placed him in a residential therapeutic school immediately. Luckily the school has cats, horses and some of the therapists have dogs they bring in so Aidan can get his animal fix, but his connection with Lily was really quite special and will always be treasured … and connected us with Barbara for life. 
 
P.S. There’s more to this story. Aidan has become my Special Technical Advisor! I’m in the process of writing a dog rescue story for children and Aidan is reviewing my manuscript to make sure the dialogue is hip and in step with the way kids talk these days.

​

Lance, a border collie and the main character in the book Lance: A Spirit Unbroken, was purchased from what may very well have been a puppy mill in an attempt to make a dysfunctional family more functional. This is the classic case of the road to hell being paved with good intentions. Not only did that family remain troubled, but Lance, only a few weeks old, was unceremoniously kicked out of the house and tethered to a stake with a heavy chain. This all occurred during the Christmas season.

Although a neighbor did her best to care for Lance, he spent the next ten Christmases and every single day in between them in the not-so-great outdoors, stuck on his hostile owners’ property. The photo on the left shows the entirety of Lance’s world for the first decade of his life.

Just before his 11th Christmas, I met Lance by pure accident. I began walking him from his “prison” on a regular basis, feeling guilty every time I returned him to it. One thing led to another and my wife and I rescued Lance over the Fourth of July weekend in 2002. Six months later Lance celebrated the 12th Christmas of his life inside a home where he was welcome, and in grand style as the photo in the middle shows. He never spent another Christmas trapped outside.
​
At times I feel a tremendous sadness reflecting on Lance’s life but, thanks in large part to Lance himself, I find much to chuckle about. For example, that first Christmas we bought Lance all kinds of cutting-edge dog toys, figuring we'd try to spoil him and make up for at least some of what he'd missed out on growing up. Wouldn't you know he had no interest in the toys (possibly because of his age?). What interested him was what those toys (and everybody else’s gifts) were wrapped in. Once a gift was opened, he’d wait for me to roll the paper it came in into a ball and throw it to him so he could shred it, as he's doing in the photo on the right. Having found out he had such inexpensive tastes, we spent a lot less on him during subsequent Christmases.  I’m confident Lance wasn’t upset at all.

 I meant to post this long ago but it got lost in my disorganization. I’m sure you’ll agree it’s a story worth re-visiting:
​
Meet Eclipse. Every day she leaves her house by herself, and takes the bus downtown to the dog park where she spends a couple of hours getting exercise and making friends, and then she takes the bus back home again. She even has a bus pass attached to her collar.

It started when her owner, Jeff Young, was taking too long when the bus arrived. Eclipse impatiently ran ahead and got on the bus by herself. The bus driver recognized her and dropped her off at the dog park, and later Jeff caught up with her. After several more trips by herself, Jeff started letting her go on her own, and she always comes back home a couple of hours later.

All of the bus drivers know her and she makes them smile, and many of the regular passengers enjoy seeing her every day and will often sit down next to her. Even the police have given their approval as long as the bus drivers are okay with the arrangement. Why wouldn’t they be? She makes everybody happy!

Click HERE to watch Eclipse in action

Because of my experience rescuing Lance and writing a book about him, I put together a PowerPoint presentation entitled In Defense of Dogs. I give this presentation wherever I can—libraries, schools, senior centers, YMCAs, etc. I’ve (hopefully) made it part humorous, part educational. In one section of the presentation, I refer to the Jon Katz newspaper interview I recently posted on Lance’s blog. I then go to the following brief description of some scientific testing that has been conducted on dogs:

“In 2013-2014, animal cognition scientists at Emory University in Atlanta, Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and also scientists in Hungary all conducted studies on dogs utilizing MRI machines. They used positive reinforcement to train the dogs to remain motionless, no mean feat in itself.  The studies focused on an area of the brain called the caudate nucleus where emotions can be measured in both dogs and humans. The results?  Hand signals indicating food, smells of familiar people and other dogs, the return of a familiar human and hearing the voice of a familiar person (not just someone who fed the dog) all triggered activity in the dogs’ caudate nucleus. Any hints of their owners took priority over everyone and everything else's smell.

Further objective findings: other domestic animals tend to run when scared/ worried, dogs typically seek out their owner. Dogs are the only non-primate animal to seek eye contact from humans and, like humans and other primates, dogs can distinguish faces. Women's brain activity increases in areas such as emotion, reward, affiliation, visual processing and social interaction when they looked at photos of their own children and pet dogs versus looking at photos of unknown children and dogs.  When shown photos of familiar and strange faces, dogs also prefer faces they know. I couldn’t find any similar studies involving men.

Humans and dogs boost each other's level of oxytocin—the "love hormone" responsible for feelings of affection—with eye to eye contact. It's been said that dogs “hug” with their eyes.”

​Here’s a link to an updated report on these test results:

It’s worth looking at just for the photo alone!

In fairness to Mr. Katz, his interview with the Chicago Tribune was conducted a few years before any of these studies had been done.

When writing Lance: A Spirit Unbroken, I did my best to make it clear that I was not in any way, shape or form a dog expert. I have neither training nor college education in any field relating to animals in general or dogs in particular. I do make the claim of being an expert at handling one particular semi-feral border collie named Lance. That skill—and my lack of any professional expertise in things canine—are both on display in Lance: A Spirit Unbroken. In next month’s blog I will offer anecdotal—not scientific—evidence that a dog, even an ornery one like Lance, can indeed love.
--Walter

 Here are some of the reader responses the newspaper received in reaction to the Jon Katz interview. One of them was apparently written by a dog, no less!

I have dog sat several times for people. I live in their house for a week or two.
I take care of the dogs. I feed them, give them water, walk them & definitely play with them. And guess what? When the owner comes home, those dogs go absolutely nuts!

They missed their owners. They may like me, but they completely love the people they really live with! –okgo

Until dogs can talk, the author's opinion can never be more than a theory.–Seamus

There was a time when I would have agreed with you but I believe you are completely wrong. My parents went away for almost a year while my father had a lung transplant. They left their little poodle "Lady" with friends. Lady did just fine with the new keepers until the day my parents came back home. When they walked into the room Lady almost fainted and then began to bark and squeal and dance and dance and so on. She was so happy to see my mom and dad that we began to fear she was going to have a heart attack and tried to calm her down.

This went on so long that it was more than seeing a past food server but genuinely missed my parents. I will never forget that experience.–HLW

Hellooo? His name is Katz. The arch-nemesis of canines.

Jeesh. I don't buy it.
Now go cough up that fur ball.–Dr. J

My husband & I recently visited friends we hadn't seen in 4 years. Their little Yorkie went wild over me and ignored my husband--I had cared for her a lot when she was younger and injured and when her "parents" vacationed, my husband was always there but not involved with Zoe. It was pretty amazing and her mom human told me that Zoe only acted that way for a very few favorite people. 4 years! What a memory.--Sean

As a golden retriever, I take great umbrage with this column (yes, goldens are smart enough to read and type). I am almost 14 years old, and have lived all over the country with my person/master/whatever you want to call him. He hasn't left me that often, but the few times he has, I most certainly missed him. and I most definitely love him. I've gotten sick before, and he's made me better. I needed both knees reconstructed so I wouldn't be in pain, and he took a second job so that we could get the surgery. I'm living with cancer now, and he's taking me to chemotherapy...and it's going into remission. Everything he gives to me, I try to give back 10-fold, and it's not just because he's got the food. Take it from me, dogs form attachments, and dogs love.--Julie

What about the dogs that manage to find their way back to their family after weeks, months, even years of separation (sometimes on their own, even!)? These dogs bypass new homes that could feed them and give them attention, focused on finding their proper "pack." What about the dogs that refuse to leave their master's grave/house/whatever despite other people offering food? It may not be love as we typically define it, but I would at least call that attachment.--Ella

Dangerous article to write in a city known for being dog lovers. I'd jump in the lake to save my dog every day and twice on Sunday.–Leonid Radzvilar

This is from Katz’s own website and describes his dog: "While Katz is trying to help his dog, Orson is helping him, shepherding him toward a new life on a two-hundred-year-old hillside farm in upstate New York. There, aided by good neighbors and a tolerant wife, hip-deep in sheep, chickens, donkeys, and more dogs, the man and his canine companion explore meadows, woods, and even stars, wade through snow, bask by a roaring wood stove, and struggle to keep faith with each other. There, with deep love, each embraces his unfolding destiny. "So, which is it, Mr. Katz?–Dan

P.S. Approximately 90% of the respondents insisted dogs can indeed love. Apparently, they felt Mr. Katz was “barking up the wrong tree” (I just had to write that!)