Death of a Dog, birth of a new routine

Lacey RIP

Mom's dog did die.  I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't a very nice dog, prone to biting small children, growling, snarling and biting Mom quite often.  On the other hand, it was her dearest love, a peek a poo, with cataracts, a ratlike hairless tail and a Cujo like attitude.  RIP Lacey, thank you for many years of companionship for Mom.  Of course it did manage to pass on at the worst possible time but knowing this dog, it wasn't that surprising.  It was nice that the complex allowed her to keep her dog, Thanks for that.  
I worried that when Mom's dog died and she no longer had that routine, feed the dog, walk the dog, feed the dog, walk the dog. . . how would she cope? Would we lose the battle because she no longer had that to hold on to? It may however, have had a fortunate side, the dog might have lasted for that first year to help her have an anchor from her former life and join it to her current life. I say this because ever since, she's had to step out of her apartment to see what everybody else is doing. I notice that the tv is off more often and today she actually talked about the dancing she did yesterday, she didn't recall that it was 4th of July and what the celebration was about even though we'd talked about it quite a bit. Now though she speaks a bit more gently about the other residents and perhaps it's becoming home for her and not some nursing home type hell.