Posted on 07/29/2003 4:13:56 PM PDT by yankeedame
Ritual breaks dog's heart
By Alex Divine, Rural Reporter July 30, 2003
AT 3.30pm each day George wanders a kilometre from home in search of a miracle.
The loyal jack russell terrier waits at the bus stop where he used to meet his owner Amity Hartnett-Campbell after school, before making the return trip alone.
The sad daily journey has become a ritual for the grieving pet since Amity was killed in a car crash four months ago.
"George has never gone this far from home on his own before," Amity's mother Kim Hartnett said yesterday.
"He must be looking for her.
"Since the accident he's gone off his food. He used to be a little guts.
"He spends most of his time curled up in Amity's lounge.
"He seems to be going through the same things I am."
George's grief follows the terrible accident which claimed the teenager's life on March 29.
Ms Harnett and Amity were driving back from visiting Amity's grandmother in Bathurst when their car skidded off the road and rolled down a 15m embankment.
Ms Hartnett recovered consciousness to discover she had been thrown into the back of the vehicle and the left side of her body was crushed.
Amity was motionless, pinned in the passenger seat, and her mother couldn't reach her.
Ms Hartnett phoned triple 0 on her mobile phone.
"I said 'I've have an accident, and I think my daughter is dead,"' Ms Hartnett recalled.
"The operator said 'stay on the line' but I couldn't stay on because my battery was flat."
More than two hours later ambulance workers found Ms Hartnett collapsed by the side of the road where she had crawled to try and get help for her daughter.
Amity was found dead at the scene.
Ms Harnett said Amity was different from other teenagers her age.
She said her daughter was mature and would often provide schoolfriends with a shoulder to cry on when the teenagers had problems they didn't to go to their parents with.
"A lot of people depended on her, she could always empathise," Ms Hartnett said.
Ms Harnett said George had adored Amity for the past 10 years.
"George was just a pup when Amity got him," Ms Harnett said.
"He ran to her from a cluster of newborn puppies as soon as he saw her.
"Georgie picked Amity, his heart belongs to her."
People in Wellington who have heard about the grieving George have been touched by the dog's sad tale.
Several have asked if Ms Hartnett would like to give the jack russell another home.
But Ms Harnett's answer is always a firm no.
"He's my baby's dog," Ms Harnett said.
"He's not going anywhere. He gets love in truckloads because we can't give it to her any more."
The Daily Telegraph
I disagree. Animals who have been raised with humans as part of a family can experience and exhibit grief. I've seen it happen with friends dogs, and I know for a fact it happened with my mother's cat when she died.
My mother had a tough, grizzled tom cat that was completely independant of anyone of anything. But when he was around her, he was my mother's little baby. He knew when she wasn't feeling well, and would climb up on her during her chemo treatments, putting a paw on each side of her neck, and burying his head under her chin, and go to sleep there, hugging her.
He became frantic when she went into the hospital, crying all the time. It was something I had never seen before. And after my mother died, he seemed to know that she was gone. He stopped eating, and eventually ran away. That cat had always been an outdoor cat, so his being gone for a few days at a time was nothing new. But he never once left the house in the two weeks that she was in the hospital, and his demeanor did change the night she died. Maybe he picked up that something was really wrong from me. I don't know. But I do know that this tough, independant, old cat (my mother had him for about 8 years before she died) grieved at the loss of my mother.
Mark
I didn't tell you no such thing - I believe that you posted to the wrong individual, Hildy.
I own three dogs, 9 cockatiels, two parrots a sugar glider and a hamster, so I do tend to disagree with the poster of the "dogs have no emotion" comment. However, I did want to see where he was coming from and why he believed this.
Actually, that doesn't seem to be the case. It's been shown that elephants DO know what death is, and in fact understand what the bones of other dead elephants are.
Mark
Okay, I give. Uncle!! I now confess; my dog (and fish and birds) have displayed hate and despair and avarice as well as love, sorrow, grief and sympathy. And I love 'em for it!
The Greyfriars Bobby memorial in Candlemakers Row, near Greyfriars Kirkyard where both Auld Jock Grey and Bobby are buried:
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