During the past decade or so I've received more than 100 emails and other sorts of queries about what dogs know about their own mortality and that of other dogs, other nonhuman animals, especially their household companions, and humans.1 I've written a good deal about this and frankly, I'm not sure what they truly know and currently, I don't think that science (aka data) alone has told us much about what they know and feel about dying and death. Neither does a combination of science. stories, and spirituality.2 However, if and when we allow science, stories, and spirituality to work together, it will help us learn more about what nonhumans think and feel about dying and death.

I'm revisiting this important topic because in the past three months alone I received 17 queries about what dogs might know about dying and death, To begin, many researchers accept that dogs and other animals grieve the loss of others—they miss one another—when they disappear from their lives and loss can include their dying. (Also see Do Dogs Grieve the Loss of a Canine Housemate?)

One recent query from Arianne was based on what her dog, Richie, did when his canine friend, Ozzie, died and when another canine friend, Tonia, had to be rehomed. In both instances, Richie grieved the absence of his friends in the same way: He became restless, lost his appetite, didn't want to play, and "simply moped around until he realized that neither dog was coming home."

So, did Richie know that Ozzie had died and Tonia was alive but had to be rehomed? Not according to Arianne, who knew all three dogs very well. Arianne's story reminded me of what my students and I once observed in wild coyotes when we studied them in the Grand Teton National Park. One day, Mom, the mother of six young pups disappeared, and her children and husband grieved but had no idea if Mom had simply left the pack and was alive or had left the pack and died. After a few weeks, life got back to normal because there were things they had to do to live wild coyote lives. Both Arianne's story and what we observed showed there was no difference in how "surviving" group members or an individual (Ozzie) behaved due to the........

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