5d • General discussion
Supporting a Dog After Their Owner Has Passed
When a dog loses their person, they don’t just lose someone they love —they lose routine, structure, and emotional stability all at once.
If you’re helping a family in this situation, here’s what matters most right now:
1️⃣ Stabilize routine before training. Same wake-up time. Same feeding time. Same walks. Predictability lowers stress.
2️⃣ Lower expectations (temporarily). Regression is normal. Clinginess, shutdown, or anxiety is expected.This isn’t defiance — it’s adjustment.
3️⃣ Avoid emotional overcompensation. Constant reassurance and boundary removal often increase anxiety. Calm, neutral presence helps more than emotional comfort.
4️⃣ Reassign one primary handler. Even temporarily, one person should:
• feed
• walk
• handle the leash
Clarity reduces confusion.
5️⃣ Keep things familiar. Same tools. Same commands. Same expectations (scaled back).
Structure gives the dog something solid to hold onto.
This isn’t about “fixing” the dog. It’s about supporting them through instability.
👇 Question for the community:Have you ever seen a dog change after losing their person? What helped?
A Promise To ALL Tristan Gibson Dog Training Clients. If your dog has an owner who passed away, we will help you along the rebuilding process. Dog's love us unconditionally until the end. It's very difficult for them as it is for us. When the handler or owner dies, the dog should have some way of understanding what happened to them. Dog's grieve just like we do.
The Promise: As your dog mourns the passing of it's owner, we will provide guidance, a postponed program, and taking your dog out for activities so you can grieve yourself. Dogs give us all the love in their time on this Earth despite everything we may be flawed with as humans. Let us help you help your dog through difficult times.
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Supporting a Dog After Their Owner Has Passed
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