# How to love another dog?



## Arrow-the-GSD (Aug 26, 2021)

Thread closed


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## NadDog24 (May 14, 2020)

Sorry for your loss


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## Arrow-the-GSD (Aug 26, 2021)

NadDog24 said:


> Sorry for your loss


Thank you ❤


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## Verachi (Mar 22, 2021)

It’s a little unfair to compare a puppy to an adult dog who you had more time to bond with. But! It’s also perfectly normal to compare! I think we’ve all done it at some point. I will say.. no, I doubt you will ever bond with her on the same level. Just my personal experience of course, but no dog compares to my heart dog. I love and bond with all of my dogs but I won’t pretend it’s ever been the same.


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## Arrow-the-GSD (Aug 26, 2021)

Verachi said:


> It’s a little unfair to compare a puppy to an adult dog who you had more time to bond with. But! It’s also perfectly normal to compare! I think we’ve all done it at some point. I will say.. no, I doubt you will ever bond with her on the same level. Just my personal experience of course, but no dog compares to my heart dog. I love and bond with all of my dogs but I won’t pretend it’s ever been the same.


I know it’s unfair and I really try not to, but I don’t always succeed. I’m hoping one day when I’ve had her just as long I will love her just as much just in a different way maybe.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

I know how that hurts. That wound is still so fresh. You can grieve in her presence and it may help to be with her. It's actually good that you didn't get a lookalike but a totally different dog. That love will grow. Don't force it. Play with her, work with her and learn about her. Years ago I was tending to my old dogs' graves and feeling sad and teary. Honestly true, that's when my GSD puppy showed up with a ball. That snapped me out of that sadness. Heal well and enjoy your puppy.


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## GSDchoice (Jul 26, 2016)

When my coworker lost his golden retriever (heart dog & soulmate) he vowed that he would never get another dog. 
And he didn't...(after her passing, his wife got a cat.)

I'm not saying that is what you should have done -
I'm saying that people love their dogs very deeply. You should not be down on yourself for not "bouncing back" quickly. And I think that as you build up more memories and adventures with Arrow, you will come to love her more.


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## Arrow-the-GSD (Aug 26, 2021)

wolfy dog said:


> I know how that hurts. That wound is still so fresh. You can grieve in her presence and it may help to be with her. It's actually good that you didn't get a lookalike but a totally different dog. That love will grow. Don't force it. Play with her, work with her and learn about her. Years ago I was tending to my old dogs' graves and feeling sad and teary. Honestly true, that's when my GSD puppy showed up with a ball. That snapped me out of that sadness. Heal well and enjoy your puppy.


That’s exactly why I chose a completely different breed actually, that and my Aussie was an old time one and extremely protective so I wanted a similar type dog


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## drparker151 (Apr 10, 2020)

Your bond will grow and your feeling of love towards towards the GSD will too, nick names will appear also. She will never replace your previous dogs place in your heart, but the total dedication she has for you, her total world, will work its way in and create new special place in your heart.


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## Arrow-the-GSD (Aug 26, 2021)

drparker151 said:


> Your bond will grow and your feeling of love towards towards the GSD will too, nick names will appear also. She will never replace your previous dogs place in your heart, but the total dedication she has for you, her total world, will work its way in and create new special place in your heart.


Hoping so, I picked GSD bc they are now breeding Aussie’s out of that guardian instinct. My old girl was literally loyal to the point that she would have died protecting me if she needed to, not that I would let that happen though. So far it’s more teaching Arrow chill out and quit barking at me demanding stuff since her breeder didn’t give any boundaries (pretty hard with eleven puppies I suppose!) 😵‍💫


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

You can never compare a new pup to an established older dog, that's not remotely fair. But you also need to adjust your expectation for a GSD to be a cuddly lap dog. Mostly, they aren't. Oddly enough, I think I've eventually loved every dog I have had, even more than the last one. They're all special though and leave with a piece of your heart. Luckily I have lots of pieces left for the next one!


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## Arrow-the-GSD (Aug 26, 2021)

WNGD said:


> You can never compare a new pup to an established older dog, that's not remotely fair. But you also need to adjust your expectation for a GSD to be a cuddly lap dog. Mostly, they aren't. Oddly enough, I think I've eventually loved every dog I have had, even more than the last one. They're all special though and leave with a piece of your heart. Luckily I have lots of pieces left for the next one!


That’s funny bc every thing I saw about GSD people were talking about them being ninety pound lap dogs 😟 that’s why I got one…energy to do what I like AND cuddles. THEY LIED TO ME😱. 🤣. I’ll still love her anyways.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Arrow-the-GSD said:


> That’s funny bc every thing I saw about GSD people were talking about them being ninety pound lap dogs 😟 that’s why I got one…energy to do what I like AND cuddles. THEY LIED TO ME😱. 🤣. I’ll still love her anyways.


It varies for every dog. Deja loves to be loved. When I work with her, she and I are business, but outside of that she is a total push over and so am I when I am talking sweet nonsense in her ear as she lies on her back and I am looking at an open relaxed mouth that can crush a turkey neck in just a few bites. I wish for you and Arrow will get a bond like that. (That name will fit her as one day she will shoot into your heart). OK, enough of poetry.


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## Arrow-the-GSD (Aug 26, 2021)

wolfy dog said:


> It varies for every dog. Deja loves to be loved. When I work with her, she and I are business, but outside of that she is a total push over and so am I when I am talking sweet nonsense in her ear as she lies on her back and I am looking at an open relaxed mouth that can crush a turkey neck in just a few bites. I wish for you and Arrow will get a bond like that. (That name will fit her as one day she will shoot into your heart). OK, enough of poetry.


Lol the poetry is great! I named her that bc I wanted a tough name for a female. If she had been a boy she would have been Dagger or Ransom.


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## WNGD (Jan 15, 2005)

Arrow-the-GSD said:


> That’s funny bc every thing I saw about GSD people were talking about them being ninety pound lap dogs 😟 that’s why I got one…energy to do what I like AND cuddles. THEY LIED TO ME😱. 🤣. I’ll still love her anyways.


Well 90 pounds dogs are actually over the breed standard and so is the cuddly lap dog outside normal breed characteristics. There are obvious outliers, here's hoping you have one!

Usually, they like attention from their people, just aren't ridiculously fawning/seeking of it.


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## Arrow-the-GSD (Aug 26, 2021)

WNGD said:


> Well 90 pounds dogs are actually over the breed standard and so is the cuddly lap dog outside normal breed characteristics. There are obvious outliers, here's hoping you have one!
> 
> Usually, they like attention from their people, just aren't ridiculously fawning/seeking of it.


Most of the GSD I know are over standard here actually. It’s kinda strange.


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## drparker151 (Apr 10, 2020)

Arrow-the-GSD said:


> That’s funny bc every thing I saw about GSD people were talking about them being ninety pound lap dogs 😟 that’s why I got one…energy to do what I like AND cuddles. THEY LIED TO ME😱. 🤣. I’ll still love her anyways.


GSD cuddles are different, laying at your feet everywhere you go including the bathroom, sitting on the couch leaning against you for 10 minutes, the occasional head resting on your leg, are all huge shows of affection from a GSD.

5 years ago our old man GSD passed. Until he was gone I didn’t realize how much him always being there with me I came to depend on. Wether I was in the kitchen, working in the yard or watching TV I would reach out and realized I was reaching for him and the comfort and contentment he always gave, but he was no longer there.

We replaced him with a 40 pound lovable sweet little cuddle bunny mixed breed from a rescue. She would climb in my lap every night and demand belly rubs.

I retired and got GSD puppy last August. I now have a best friend who is always with me again.

We started to worry about same sex aggression as the GSD got older. We were talking with our son who has PTSD, we told him in a few months we might need to separate them, he took the cuddle bunny that night and they do belly rubs every night.

As time passes, your bond grows, and your pup matures. You‘ll become aware that nothing else is like the always there presence of your GSD.


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

This is what we mean.....(just now). This is how far away she is mostly when not playing or on walks, bike rides.


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## Zeev (Aug 28, 2021)

I do not understand what a heart dog is. I love all 3 of my pups...But I'm never getting another dog after they all go...never never never...


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Zeev said:


> I do not understand what a heart dog is. I love all 3 of my pups...But I'm never getting another dog after they all go...never never never...


Why not? For me, Deja is my second heart dog, the other one was my Whippet male. For me the bond with these is so different, more intense like soulmates. The others that I love are regular sweet buddies though.


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## dogfaeries (Feb 22, 2010)

Ah heart dogs! 

Sage, without a doubt, was my heart dog. I never thought I’d ever be so attached to another dog again, until I got her niece Scarlet. According to her breeder, she knew Scarlet was mine when she was born, and she was right.


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## selzer (May 7, 2005)

I still think of Arwen every day. Every day she comes up in conversation, or in some way that one of the others reminds me of her. There is a song, Bojangles, about a guy in jail, most of the time, now, but used to travel about with the dogs dancing in minstrel shows and ****** tonks in the south, with his dog. "The dog up and died, he up and died, after 20 years he still grieves." 

Well, Babs passed 2 years ago, at almost 14, her momma, Arwen, had her and Jenna when she was 4 years old. So 20 years ago. She was 9 when I lost her. So 15 years ago. I don't know that I still grieve for her. I remember her daily. She and Babsy who was almost 14 and her litter sister Jenna who was almost 13, and their sister Heidi who was almost 13. And Mufasa who wasn't 3, and little Quinnie who was 3.5. And all the wonderful critters between them. Joy, Jenna's first baby; Milla and Ninja, Babs twin daughters. Dubya, Babs and Jenna's sire. 

I don't know if we can say another dog takes the place of one that passes. Arwen was a heart dog, Babs and Jenna both were, Quinnie was. I have some now that may be heart-dogs, and I know folks seem mighty lucky to get just one heart-dog in a life time. How could I be so blessed to have more than one. Well, the thing is, everyone is different and every dog is different. Some people need to take time off, maybe not even consider having another dog after a dog they loved dies on them. And others need to get another to fill the void left behind. I find it easier to have more than one dog at the same time, so that when one is lost, the hole in the house, is not so raw. The other dog or dogs must be fed, groomed, watered, paid attention to. They do not allow us to wallow too long in that deep dark place. It simply helps to get out and walk that dog, to feed the dogs, to move around, to groom them. At some point we realize that when we think of the lost one, it is no longer the pain of the passing that we are remembering, but the joy of their life with us. We can start telling their story without pain. And we can see them in our other dogs, not the same, but similar. 

But I understand the lyric, "after 20 years he still grieves."


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## wolfy dog (Aug 1, 2012)

Well said, Selzer. After many years, grieving a heart dog becomes kind of a default emotion. Having him (Whippet male) buried on our property doesn't help much. I wish I had him cremated and given him to the wind. He loved racing and coursing and was my best teacher dog ever. Died 11 years ago. I am well aware of Deja being a heart dog and she is almost 8.


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