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Barnyard Buddies:  Animal Sadness  |
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babysmama
True Blue Farmgirl
931 Posts
Elizabeth
Iowa
931 Posts |
 Posted - Aug 02 2008 : 08:52:13 AM
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I read a post about puppies pulling flowers out of the yard and it reminded me about something totally different...
I had a Great Pyrenees puppy and my brother had a black lab dog. They used to sleep together by the door on our porch all the time. Well, when my puppy was about nine or ten months old she got hit by a car and died. That night our black lab howled all night and the next day she hid in my parents closet all day. I planted some flowers over my dog's grave and the next day we found several of the flowers very gently pulled out of the ground and laying right where the dogs used to sleep. How heartbreaking! It just shows that dogs do have emotions of greiving and are almost human-like in some ways. Does anyone else have stories of how their animals have greived?
-Elizabeth |
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Annab
True Blue Farmgirl
2900 Posts
Anna
Seagrove
NC
USA
2900 Posts |
Posted - Aug 02 2008 : 10:23:07 AM
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When my brother's cat had cancer and was euthanized, my parents and brother had a small burial. Our other cat who was quite a bit older sat nearby and watched.
When we lost the matriarch in our elephant herd, the floor in her stall had been bleached and scrubbed. A day after the incident, the other elephat was permitted back over to that stall where she immediately took her trunk and inhaled in two specific areas in the stall. Both spots were where the matriarch's head had been lying.
And of course, how many of our pets try to comfort us when they sense our emotions. It's all very profound |
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electricdunce
True Blue Farmgirl
2544 Posts
Karin
Belmont
ME
USA
2544 Posts |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
Posted - Aug 02 2008 : 1:29:31 PM
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I witness first hand the power of greif thru animals. About three years into starting this farm one of our head llama girls baby died. She had heart issues from birth but I had hopes we could pull her thru. As I sat with the cria in my lap and tears rolling down my checks the mom sat next to me with her head on the baby. While I sat in silence each of the female llamas came into the barn in the ranking order of their herds. One at a time they came in and touched noses with the deaceased cria, then the mom and then they came a gentle blow to my face. This went on till each of the 23 females had repeated this action. Then as I went outside I found the girls had sat down in their herd groups facing the West (sunset) and gently humming. It was like they were singing a prayer. I took the baby outside and Mom followed. We sat facing West till the sun went down, in the gentle humming I felt my heart break. The sadness was overwhelming but the getle loving song was their way of dealing. After we burdied the sweet one the next morning we found each night for almost a week this routine continued. It was then that I really understood the blessing I get from living each day with my animals.
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
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Alee
True Blue Farmgirl
22941 Posts
Alee
Worland
Wy
USA
22941 Posts |
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mikesgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
3659 Posts
Sherri
Elma
WA
USA
3659 Posts |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
Posted - Aug 02 2008 : 6:51:00 PM
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Here is one that still makes me cry buckets so go find the kleenex - I'll wait.
My first year starting the farm I purchased the Grand Champion winning flock of Southdown sheep from the National Western Stock show. I then purchased the Grand Champion Ram too. They bred and we where expecting out first lambs. I had read all the books, talked with all the old timers and felt myself read. One of the girls I named Marilynn Monroe because she had a beauty mark on her chin and was ever so self involved. For weeks leading up to lambing season everyone told me to get the ram out - he would kill the babies so he could bred again. However, try as hard as we could we could never catch him. Finally we gave up. When it was time for her to give birth I just could not get the ram to leave the barn and I was really scared. I assisted with a terrible twin delivery - if only I knew then what I know now - but I did the best. I had managed to save one of the twins but the other never took a breath. The ram watched my every move and I was concerned because my friend on the phone told me to move very slowly because he may charge at me. I watched his eyes and saw the sadness he was feeling. I sat in the hay with the little limp body in my arms. He came slowly walking toward me making a faint sound. Marilynn was trying to take care of the weak one after I had given it a bottle. The sad father was now nose to nose with me and I thought I am done for. Instead, he gently licked the lifeless body all the while making a soft and comforting sound. After he had cleaned the lamb he went over and licked the head of the weak one and then licked the mother. I did not move a muscle. As the tears rolled down my face he returned and sat next to me with his head in my arms next to his now cold daughter. I sat and cried for what seemed the rest of the morning. Then he rose to his feet licked my tear stained face and left the barn. For days he would come in the barn and sit with me, quite, calm and ever loving. My sons could not believe how kind he was to all the girls but every night we would find him fast asleep with Marilynn and his tiny son. When I told this story at our 4H sheep meeting no one would believe that a ram would be so kind - well I have had many kind rams, billies, male llamas who have shown their fatherly love, compassion and protection. Males get a bad rap in my eyes.
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
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shepherdgirl
True Blue Farmgirl
1008 Posts
Tracy
California
USA
1008 Posts |
Posted - Aug 02 2008 : 11:11:53 PM
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How well I know that animals DO have emotions. My dog Eli, (a Maremma LGD) LOVES his babies when they arrive! And he certainly feels the loss when they die. Last year we had a Babydoll lamb named "Grace" (no kidding!) Eli raised her (with my help of course-- but he was totally MOM) after her own mother walked away from her shortly after giving birth. For a month she was his little shadow and oh how he LOVED her! When she died (from our first and ONLY case of bloat EVER! I was too late to save her and she died in my arms) he was devastated. For two weeks he would hardly eat and he was very snippy with the other animals, even the lambs! Which surprised me. I would go out and sit with him and he'd lay his big 'ol head in my lap and just stare up at me and sigh. I knew he was hurting, but, like with humans, I had to let him deal with his grief. It was a very sad time for both of us.
This year was NOT a good lambing year (we lost 6 out of 9) and we also lost kids (3 out of 7). After the first ewe lambed, we found Eli protecting the baby from the horses and the other animals. Mom turned out to be Grace's mom (the HORROR!! I thought "ANOTHER lamb to bottle feed!" but she actually TOOK this one! Yeah!). Eli had the baby by the barn while mom was out grazing. We realized shortly afterward that she'd actually had TRIPLETS--- in the MIDDLE OF THE DAY!!! After that, the kids started coming. At first I was excited that I had 3 healthy, beautiful kids, but I noticed that Eli was acting REALLY strange. Not like himself at all. When the kids were 3 and 4 days old, I went to the barn to show my little niece the newest babies and found a dead kid by the gate. At first, I thought maybe Eli had killed it, or something, he'd been acting so strange since those lambs had died (it broke my heart to think he would do that, but he DID kill a Kitten this year, so I was concerned that his odd behavior had something to do with the dead kid). I thought it was the little boy I liked so well, but when I looked in the pen inside the barn there he was-- bouncing around with his sister! Where had that other kid come from? I realized then, that part of Eli's strange behavior was because HE knew that kid was still out there, but I had NO IDEA! I guess he got tired of waiting for ME to discover it, so he brought it into the barn and left it where he KNEW I couldn't miss it. Once the kid was buried, he seemd to calm down again and stopped acting wierd.
Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. ~~ George Carlin |
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EnchantedWoodsGirl
True Blue Farmgirl
959 Posts
Kathy
New Jersey
USA
959 Posts |
Posted - Aug 02 2008 : 11:18:52 PM
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Your bittersweet story made me cry - Whenever I look into my dogs eyes, I see the depth of their very souls. How empty my life would be without my soul-mate companions.
Kathy of the Enchanted Wood
Farmgirl Sister #59
http://enchantedwoodmusings.blogspot.com/
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DaisyFarm
True Blue Farmgirl
1646 Posts
Diane
Victoria
BC
Canada
1646 Posts |
Posted - Aug 03 2008 : 12:04:25 AM
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I so agree Kathy, a dogs' eyes just show their faithful, loving selves. I have a yellow lab named Lily. She's a wily one, but smart and intuitive. When I noticed one morning that our duck wasn't on her nest, I just knew it was a bad sign. So I asked Lil, "where's my duck?". She put her nose to the ground and took me straight to her, up the hill at the far side of the house. I know she tracked the scent of the mink, but she also knew I was upset and knew exactly what I was asking her.
When I'm working down in the field, if dh comes home or a regular customer comes that she knows, if they ask her "where's mom?", she will bring them right to me. She's a great welcome wagon!!
I can't imagine life without a dog.
Di on VI
Farmgirl Sister #73 |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Aug 06 2008 : 5:50:36 PM
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Oh Elizabeth, how sad it is loosing a pet. I've experienced it. I feel your hurt. No one can tell me that animals, dog and cats, etc.. don't have emotions and love and know what's going on. I know they do. They also show compansion, like your dog did. What a beautiful posting. I need a kleenex now. Thanks for sharing that with all of us. Have a happy day!
Marly |
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Bear5
True Blue Farmgirl
13055 Posts
Louisiana/Texas
USA
13055 Posts |
Posted - Aug 06 2008 : 5:52:17 PM
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Grace!!!!
Your posting about your lamb and ram was very moving. Thank you for sharing such a heartfelt and beautiful story. My heart is touched by reading it. Animals are simply wonderful to us and to their own.
Marly |
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levisgrammy
True Blue Farmgirl
9413 Posts
Denise
Beavercreek
Ohio
USA
9413 Posts |
Posted - Aug 07 2008 : 05:47:57 AM
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You know when our boston died last year the vet said that the younger one would grieve in her own way. But she never has. We did not bring the dog where she could smell her or see her when she was gone so I thought maybe she just thinks she is somewhere else.
The one we have left is nothing like the first one. The first was so obedient and loving and fun. This was seems like she has a mind of her own and at almost 6 years old she still goes in the house. I think that is because she is mad at one of us. Anyway, I have thoughts that we won't get another once this ones time comes. The older one was 9 when she died but she had kidney disease.
Grace,
your stories are just amazing. I would have been scared to death to have the grieving animals that close to me.
Denise
farmgirl sister #43
"Take a lesson from the teakettle, though up to its
neck in hot water...it sings!"
www.torisgram.etsy.com |
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KYgurlsrbest
True Blue Farmgirl
4853 Posts
Jonni
Elsmere
Kentucky
USA
4853 Posts |
Posted - Aug 07 2008 : 06:19:58 AM
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I am only skimming all your poignant posts because I'll be a blubbering mess here at the office, but, aside from agreeing completely, I wanted to tell you all (if you haven't already read this) to get a copy of the book "When Elephants Weep, the emotional lives of animals", written several years back. http://www.jeffreymasson.com/animal-books/when-elephants-weep.html
I always believed that the animals in my life knew true emotion, and shared that with us, their humans, but this book really confirmed that for me.
Farmgirl Sister #80, thanks to a very special farmgirl from the Bluegrass..."She was built like a watch, a study in balance ... with a neck and head so refined, like a drawing by DaVinci"...
NY Newsday sportswriter Bill Nack describing filly, Ruffian.
http://www.buyhandmade.org/ |
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grace gerber
True Blue Farmgirl
2804 Posts
grace
larkspur
colorado
USA
2804 Posts |
Posted - Aug 07 2008 : 09:29:27 AM
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Sharing our stories is also a way to keep those wonderful friends with us and to open the eyes of those who find that they only see animals as something we own or who service us in some way. Over the years when I share my stories about the sweet souls who have lived and passed on our farm with "city folks" and those who view their animals as only a cash crop - I think in a small way I have opened their hearts just a little bit - I think that might be my true purpose in life. I thank you all for sharing with us your love and loss - it is that sharing that heals....
Grace Gerber
Larkspur Funny Farm and Fiber Art Studio
Where the spirits are high and the fiber is deep
http://www.larkspurfunnyfarm.etsy.com
http://larkspurfunnyfarm.blogspot.com
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Barnyard Buddies: Animal Sadness |
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Animal Sadness
