I knew this but have never experienced it until now. It's been about six weeks since we lost Maggie and today I finally realized that my poor Gigi bear is in mourning.
I didn't notice for a while because at first she didn't seem to realize Maggie was gone. Or if she realized it, she didn't seem to care. She ate a little less but I figured that was because she didn't need to chow down right away lest somebody else eat it for her. And she didn't have somebody else's bowl of food to chow down on either if they hadn't finished it all right away.
Not long after Maggie was gone, Gigi discovered how lovely her singing voice is in the wee hours of the morning. Yes, eight o'clock is wee! I realized today -- at around 3:00 a.m. when she woke me up -- that she's gradually starting singing earlier and earlier.
She's also been tearing up the area rugs into a pile. First it was just one time, now it's several times during the night. The past few nights I've had to come down and lay on the couch with her in the early hours to settle her down. It's now escalated into the same behavior as when fireworks go off. This morning I found her waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, then she made like she was ready to head out the front door with me, wherever I was going.
I thought about all that and realized: My doggie is in mourning.
So now what? There are actually several sites with some good recommendations on dealing with a mourning pet. Thankfully they all say don't go out and get a new pet to replace the lost one. I'm just not ready for that.
One thing I noticed in the recommendations is to change up your dog's routine, like taking them for more walks or walks to new places. Unfortunately, Gigi can't go very far any more but I did realize that whereas I had been taking her on daily walks to the mailbox every day I'd stopped doing that about two or three weeks ago when the weather turned crappy. After that was right about the time her behavior started to deteriorate. I think we'll do some car rides too, just to be out doing something different.
In other news, I do have a thanksgiving recap planned but there are pictures and I haven't downloaded them yet. Soon. I know you're all dying to hear about the Ollie fondling.
Cheers,
the CilleyGirl
A car ride sounds good! Lady LOVE car rides. Even if we just go to McDonald's and back (Yeah, I know... sooo healthy). But short or long, she feels so special in the car!
ReplyDeletePoor little doggy. It makes me so sad to see them sad. My dog Charly did that when Bubba died. She never slept the whole week we think. Once I came home to visit I brought her in the house and she just passed out right across my legs. Snoring and everything. It was so precious, but so sad.
Hopefully a change to the routine will help the poor girl out a bit.