Some animals, such as elephants, display mourning behaviors for the loss of a mate, but so far it is not clear if dogs also afflictalthough a new study suggests that some behavioral and emotional changes could be indicative of it.
A study by the University of Milan that publishes Scientific Reports analyzed these changes with a survey of 426 people who had dogs in the same household after the death of one of the animals.
To the owners, of which the 66% had lost a dog more than a year before the studyasked about any changes in the behavior of the surviving animal, described the previous relationship between the two dogs and their own levels of distress after death.
86% of owners observed negative changes in the behavior of the surviving dog; 32% reported that these lasted between two and six months and 25% that they lasted more than six months.
Between changes in behavior, the surviving dog wanted more attention (67%); played less (57%); was less active (46%); he became more fearful (35%), ate less (32%), and increased whining and barking (30%).
93% of the owners indicated that the dogs had lived together for more than a year and 69% described the relationship between them as friendly.
Although the duration of the coexistence between two dogs did not influence the behavior of the survivors, having had a friendly relationship and a distressed owner made fear and negative behavior changes more likely.
The researchers suggest that the observed changes could be due to both a grief-like reaction in response to the loss of their mate, and a grief reaction from their owners. (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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