Dog grief

This is Wylie. He was found wondering the streets when he was estimated to be about 6 months old. I brought him home and he and my girl Bella bonded immediately. He became her baby and they’ve never spent a single day apart since, for the last 10 years. Photo proof: thick as thieves! They even had to go to the vet together because they had separation anxiety from each other.

Wylie is highly reactive to other dogs. He has never met a dog he liked, besides Bella. He immediately goes hackles up, snarling, lunging, barking, growling, the works. It’s definitely fear based, but it’s always consistent. Wylie also subsisted (presumably) on cats, birds, squirrels, road kill, etc during his time on the streets. So he sees all small animals as prey. A friend of mine brought their puppy over to see how Wylie would react to a baby. Wylie was actively salivating and trying to see and get to the puppy to eat it. I’ve seen him rip a bird clean in half while in flight.

Wylie definitely preferred Bella to any human. When I trained him he would look to her to see what she did and then just copy whatever she did. She would correct him on his behavior from time and time and he definitely saw her as the leader of HIS pack. Thankfully, she looked to me for guidance and protection so both dogs have been great behaviorally for many many years.

That said, we laid Bella to rest on Wednesday. She had been suffering from oral melanoma for a few months and the day finally came that I couldn’t control her pain and keep her comfortable anymore. Wylie was present for the procedure. He kept his eyes on me the entire time and came over to paw at me after she had passed. He refused to look at her and he looked genuinely terrified, like he thought he was next.

We are both understandably depressed. I’ve had a hard time getting him to play and his confidence is shot. A few times I’ve found him in his crate shaking. He doesn’t want to go outside to go potty unless I come with him. I’ve gotten him some treat puzzle toys and he will engage with them, which has been a bit of a relief. He is still eating and drinking normally and no loss of motivation for food.

I’ve been home since Wednesday because my jobs gave me whatever time I need to figure things out, but eventually I will need to leave for a few hours per day to collect paperwork and do aspects of my job in the offices. Historically, he has always been crated when we aren’t home. Bella was a free roamer and Wylie was put up, for his safety and the houses safety. He’s never been left out of the crate when humans weren’t present.

I need ideas from the community. How do I help him process the loss and rebuild confidence by himself? How do I transition to leaving him home alone when I need to go out? What tools or tricks can I use to settle his anxiety and keep him busy while I go to work?

We’ve been going on long walks together and we can go further than we used to because the old girl isn’t slowing the pace. I let him explore and lead in whatever direction he wants to go. I’ve got a bento treat ball that took him about 6 hours to work through the other day, so this was at least plan A. He doesn’t like chew toys, won’t even take them out of my hands.

Photos for attention.

TLDR: needing tips for leaving a dog alone that has never been alone before. Two dog household is now only one and my boi is stressed and anxious.