They don’t move, eat less, and become fearful. A study suggests that domestic dogs can also suffer grief over the death of a companion
Scientists have recorded grieving behaviors in a variety of animals, from birds to elephants. For example, pachyderms visit and touch the bones of their dead relatives, chimpanzees clean the carcasses, magpies bury them under the grass as if it were a ‘funeral’, and crows sing in groups. Does something similar happen to domestic dogs? Italian researchers believe it is possible that dogs go through a stage of mourning after the death of a companion with whom they have lived in the same home.
“We decided to carry out this study because we want to shed light on a still dark side, at least for us humans, of the lives of domestic dogs: their complex emotions, particularly pain,” explains Federica Pirrone from the University of Milan.
“The demonstration of mourning in non-human animals is one of the greatest challenges facing science. As for dogs, the evidence is currently scant and mostly anecdotal,” he adds.
Intrigued, Pirrone and his colleagues surveyed 426 people who had owned at least two dogs at the same time, one of which died. 86% of owners said their animals experienced negative behavioral changes after the pet’s death, in some cases for more than six months. The animals sought more attention, played less, or became less active. Some also slept more, were more fearful, ate less, or whined or barked more. In most cases, the dogs had lived together for more than a year, maintaining a friendly relationship.
Friendly relationship
The researchers found that while the length of time two dogs lived together did not influence grief behavior, having a friendly relationship with the deceased dog and having a grieving owner made behavioral changes and fear more likely. This suggests a similar reaction to grief in response to both the loss of their mate and the sadness of the owners.
“Our results (published in ‘Scientific Reports’ ) open the way to a real possibility that domestic dogs may mourn the death of a companion. However, the observed behavioral and emotional changes could be indicative of separation stress. Therefore, we currently cannot know for sure whether the dogs responded to the ‘loss’ of a companion or to the ‘death’ of the companion per se”, the researcher points out.
Precisely to unravel this dilemma, the team is already working on the next phase of the project. To the authors, grief-like responses among dogs is an important and overlooked pet welfare issue.