Max P. Churchill © Bert E. Kavich Productions. All Rights Reserved.

Dogs May Grieve

Jon Thumilson's dog, Hawkeye, was an important part of his life. And, as it turns out, Thumilson was an important part of Haekeye's life.   After the Navy SEAL was killed in Afghanistan last summer, more than a thousand friends and family attended the funeral in Rockford, Iowa, including his "son" Hawkeye, a black Labrador retriever who, with a heavy sigh, lay down in front of Tumilson's flag-draped casket. There, the loyal dog stayed for the entire service.   Hawkeye's reaction to his owner's death generated a lot of buzz online and in the media. But it's not unusual, according to pet experts, for some dogs to mourn the loss of a favorite person or animal housemate.   Grief is one of the basic emotions dogs experience, just like people, said Dr. Sophia Yin, a San Francisco-based veterinarian and applied animal behaviorist. Dogs also feel fear, happiness, sadness, anger, as well as possessiveness.   Dogs who mourn may show similar signs to when they're separated for long periods of time from the individual they're bonded to, she said. Of those signs, depression is the most common, in which dogs usually sleep more than normal, move slower, eat less and don't play as much.   The beginnings of such a strong inter-species bond between humans and dogs dates back some 15,000 years, when early man and the ancestor of today's dog roamed the Earth together.   Today, after thousands of years of friendship, there's a great deal of attunement between humans and dogs, not only in terms of comprehension of each others gestures and body language but also emotionally, said Barbara King, a professor of anthropology at the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.   It's not just evolutionary logic, or reading peer-reviewed science literature that's convinced King that dogs (as well as cats) feel deep grief. Interviews with astute pet owners for her upcoming book, How Animals Grieve, and the power of observation, has also led her to this conclusion.   Case in point: a grainy video posted on YouTube that captured the image of a scruffy terrier running onto a busy highway in Chile to rescue another dog, hit moments earlier, by a car. As vehicles whiz by the terrier, he instinctively wraps his paws around the injured dog, dragging him off the road to safety.   "When you look at that sort of example, again, you see that these dogs are thinking and feeling creatures, and that sets the stage for grief," she said.   Through her research, King has found that in households with two dogs who've lived together for a number of years, some owners report that when one dog dies, the other gets depressed. Skeptics might point to a change in daily routine as the cause of depression or, perhaps, because the owner is upset and grieving. But King feels differently.   "The surviving dog is searching around the house for a lost companion -- looking in favorite places, going to places that they spent with their friend, very pointed actions that tell you the dog is missing his friend," she said.   If a pet mopes around the house after the death of a canine or human companion, Yin suggests the best thing owners can do is to get their dog's mind off the loss by engaging their pet in fun activities

Information source: Above story by Maryann Mott found in the July 8th. 2012 issue of The Arizona Republic newspaper. ( HealthDay ) Section  .

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I Max P. Churchill stand for the rights of the working dog who works day in and day out in many cases without recognition or appreciation! A dog who in many cases will literally put his or her life in jeopardy. A truly loyal and devoted friend and companion.

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"Some Popular Mixed Breeds"

If you think bagels belong to the bread family, think again. Mix a basset hound with a beagle and you'll get a Bagel-without the cream cheese, of course. Breeders began deliberately mixing purebreds to create canines who are mellower and non-allergenic in the 1980s; now, people are paying hundreds of dollars for them. The most popular mixer? The poodle, prized for its intelligence, temperament and shed-proof coat. Whatever the blend, these genetic cocktails have also given birth to some silly-sounding names. Here are a few: Labrador + poodle = Labradoodle Pekingese + toy poodle = Pekepoo Schnauzer + poodle = Schnoodle West Highland terrier + poodle = Westiepoo Golden retriever + poodle = Goldendoodle Yorkshire terrier + bichon frise = Yorki-chon Pug + beagle = Puggle Miniature schnauzer + Yorkshire terrier = Snorkie

The above is an article written by Meredith Franco Meyers for the March 2003 issue of Ladies' Home Journal.

" Have A Great Day "  "Affectionately Yours," Max

"You can reach me at the E-mail address listed below" bertekavich@mail.com "Thank You"

Mycroft's Old English Word or Phrase of The Month Mycroft © Bert E. Kavich Productions. All Rights Reserved.   Every month I will share with you a word with definition or a phrase from the Old English past which is no longer in use today.   ~ exust ~   To burn; from Latin exustus, burned.

Information source: — John Boag's Imperial Lexicon of the English Language, c. 1850

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