Yesterday I was telling some friends about this newsletter and they started suggesting some slightly esoteric questions like does my dog love me, does my pet know when I need comfort, and does my dog miss me when I’m gone. I latched onto that last one because as a pet sitter I feel uniquely qualified to answer it.
After thinking about the actual question versus my answer I came to realize that I was answering a far different question. In my experience, it takes right around three visits for our client’s dogs to fall into our routine. This might be because that is an entire day’s worth of visits and dogs, like humans, are highly adaptable to new routines or it could be because your dog has accepted me as their new primary care provider and forgotten all about you.
The truth, I think, is somewhere in the middle. Dogs are highly adaptable and a new routine that is close to their regular routine is going to be easy to adjust to. This is one of the advantages of pet sitter versus dog boarding. We are coming to the pet’s home and keeping them on their regular schedule as much as possible. It makes adjustments far simpler.
Adjusting to a routine and accepting myself or one of my team members as a care provider is far different than missing you. Thus far I haven’t actually answered the question or come close to answering the question, but as luck would have it there are studies out there that have found your dogs do miss you when you are gone.
You can read the entire 2013 Psychology Today article here. Let me briefly sum up. Your dog is familiar with you and they do like you and most likely love you. More importantly, your dog finds comfort in your scent and when you leave your scent starts to dissipate. The study found that dogs greet their owners more enthusiastically when they have been gone for two hours as opposed to 30 minutes. Thinking on a longer timeline and more of your scent dissipating your dog is going to miss you more. Then when you return home they are going to be overwhelmed by your scent and all those feelings of the comfort and joy they associate with you will come bubbling up.
Whenever I return from a vacation or a weekend away I am greeted by a very enthusiastic hound dog. I am talking the entire hind end shaking can barely stand still type of enthusiasm. It is my belief that your dog does miss you when you are gone. They might fall into a new routine with myself or one of my team members after just three visits, less if we’ve visited them before, but there is nothing that pleases them more than when you return home.
So, to answer the question your dog does miss you when you are gone and they do love you and are happy to see you or smell you.