I would imagine it is also worse than losing a dog because it is a human after all with whom you interacted on a human level. I think it is very much what you have in your signature: "Grief is the price you pay for love". And grief does not usually vanish with a couple weeks or even months. The fact that you actually allow yourself to experience it and hurt is much better IMO than pushing it away or applying some artificial "pain killer". For me the only fully felt grief I allowed myself so far was about losing my father a few years ago, in fact more his long gradual decline (slowly losing the person who was not only a good father but also one of my best adult friends), his actual death was more like a relief in the end. I got into some creative rituals to process it, like looking over items that were left from him on cozy Sundays and remembering all the things he taught me, going to places I knew he would have loved to visit as well and thinking about him, writing letters to him (I never wrote real letters to him alive), talking to our old friends about him and reaching out to some people I did not even know personally but I knew they admired him, talking to my own friends about the many positive influences he had on me, etc etc. It was ongoing ~for two years after his death. I was idealizing him during that period more than ever but it helped me. I remember him in a much more realistic/objective way now and no longer feel a need for the rituals but it really helped for a while.

I think that experiencing the loss of an important person for those of us who otherwise have avoidant tendencies can be very hard, especially for the first time. But can also be part of some serious growth, integration and new beginnings. Of course it rarely feels that way when the pain is intense