Dogs Pine Too - Has Your Dog Lost a Partner?

Dogs really do suffer from grief and pining for pack members that have suddenly disappeared from their lives. I always thought that dogs were pretty much OK as long as they had their favorite human until a few years ago. We moved from Pennsylvania to the coastlines of Virginia, but we had to move ½ of the family first. Scooter and I came to Virginia several weeks ahead of our other dog Jeremy and his human, settling for weekends together. When Memorial Day hit, we all spent one week together before Jeremy and his human packed up to return to work for just two final weeks.

Nearly immediately Scooter stopped eating, stopped interacting with me, and even special nights on the bed didn't turn his very obvious depression around. He moped from one corner of our new apartment to the next, barely responding to walks and wining throughout the night. I literally became scared when he still wasn't eating after the first five days.

Dogs pine for their companions the same way we do, and the sudden disruption of a pack member can rattle their security in a way that can lead to self imposed exile from food and attention. I started hand feeding him bits of chicken and beef liver, which he would eat sparingly. When his water consumption began to dwindle I knew it was time to do something different.

I began to kick off an all out research campaign on animals and separation anxiety. Dogs can become highly destructive when they are pining. They can bark to the point of neighbor complaints, and they can groom themselves raw. Scooter displayed very obvious signs of depression so I got it right away, but I have to wonder how I would have reacted had he started a behavior that I firmly disapproved of as his way of expressive his unhappiness. If you can't understand their behavior, you are likely to correct it without thinking about its root cause.

I was lucky, as was Scooter, since there was an end to his lifestyle disruption. Two weeks after his initial hunger strike his dog friend Jeremy returned and Scooter's behavior returned to normal, including his eating and drinking habits. I wish I had known then what I know now in order to ease those weeks apart from his beloved companion and protector.

The supplement Grief and Pining Formula is able to provide the nutrient balance necessary to help dogs undergoing stress from loss, whether permanent or temporary, which can reduce the tendency for behavioral changes. Nobody likes to leave their dog at the kennel, but those with dogs with separation anxiety find that their kennel time is a time of personal torture as they know how much their dog suffers. With a supplement like the Grief and Pining Formula there is no need to for your dog to suffer. The nutrients help balance out the brain's chemicals and help the dog remain much more balanced when it comes to new experiences or moments of separation.