I also think that if we don’t allow our dogs to pass, that if we grieve too deeply for them and become locked in sorrow that, that can even affect our departed ones - and their spirit isn’t released to be happy and rejoice in heaven.

I’ve had dreams and visions of a dog I dearly loved romping in green fields and playing with horses and being loved -

such sweet memories.

For all those that have lost pets, I hope there is some comfort in that these animals that have given so much love are with God, as God is love and draws all souls, animal or human, to him - all those that have given and receive love when they pass are in heaven in God’s tender embrace.

Do they grieve? I’m certain they do. Even for those they don’t know (sorry, Gina) - I can remember multiple articles after 9-11 about that. Maybe they were feeling what their handlers felt, maybe not. I’ve read many stories about S&R dogs getting depressed when they can’t find anything alive.

But I think it’s also important for us American petlovers to remember all the dogs, cats, and other pets that become the unintended victims of war, at our hands or others. I know the sad history of the dogs (ours and native) who were left (or worse) in Vietnam, but I’m hopeful it’s different this time.

I loved this story that came out this weekend: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18871405/
I’m so sorry for the man’s family, but I’m glad they were able to work this out - it’s good news all around.

I know my dogs have grieved when a member of the pack has left them. Some take longer than others to adjust. I had one dog, who for days searched for their lost bud.

S&R: we trained a dog for that. To keep them up and not depressed, we had a favorite toy and lots of play. Also, had living people hide just so they could find someone.

Dogs of owners who have died, have grieved for days and months.

Linda, I believe there is a doggie heaven/rainbow bridge. When my male heart dog passed away. He visited for a year and a half. I really worried about what had happened to him and thought it would be horrible if he came back to someone who didn’t love him. In my dream he took me to a place, I had never seen, and dogs and animals running up and down fields and hills totally unfamiliar to me. I believe he wanted me to know that he was “safe and happy” and my grieving time was over.

No one will ever be able to convince me that animals don’t think or feel on some level.

Katie

I have some good stories that I will post from Newspapers etc and journals showing the difference.

I have done much reading and much training with my dog. This is my take on it and I’m sharing my experience. There’s lots of opinions floating about. We take what we wish and discard the rest. That’s okay.

I did a favor for a friend and took my dog out to look for a cat that had been missing a week. My dog went straight away to cross the residential street in front of the woman’s house, stopped by the trees, and then headed for a busy intersection, cars and all, then he crossed the intersection, stopped at the side of the street, wouldn’t leave the stop by the road, then wanted to return to the car and search no more. I do believe her cat was hit by a car, but I couldn’t tell for sure, of course, only that my dog refused to look further. He was a very unhappy dog.

I think when someone works a dog and knows a dog then they can pick up subtle signs that others may miss. I know two really good stories, one a trained S&R dog that is in a journal from the man who helped me train and another from a newspaper account with an untrained S&R dog.

We can call it what we like, grieve, depressed but until you work a dog, and know its emotional states in these situations, then it’s all just second guesses.

I think dogs go to heaven and have souls too. I think they have a rich emotional life and a sensitive dog feels emotional trauma when people die, not just their family members, but dogs that search for lost and missing strangers - a dead find is a sad find for the dog.

Do you think your dogs grieve when another dog in your home dies?

Do you think your dog grieves when you pass a dog who has been hit by a car and killed?

I bet in the first instance, you think your dogs grieve. (I do.) I bet in the second you think your dog doesn’t react.

That’s the difference, see?

By the way, I’ve met some real jerks in S&R who I guarantee will not agree otherwise they’d have to face a moral decision - am I asking too much of my dog(s).

I specifically asked if dogs grieve when faced with dead bodies, as in the case of search-and-rescue dogs, for “Why Do Dogs Drink Out of the Toilet?” the book Dr. Becker and I wrote.

Guess what? They don’t.

The answer of why not makes sense. Dogs are predators. For predators, the smell of death is a good thing — it means dinner.

What dogs are exhibiting is a combination of exhaustion and a reaction to the emotion of their handlers.

But the “smell of death” without context doesn’t bother them at all, at least not in a negative sense.