Hi all you pet lovers!

Can you help? I've been home early retired about a year and hubby's home on disability. We're our pup's "audience" at various times in the day, he'll crack you up, cute as can be. WHEN MY HUBBY LEAVES THE ROOM, our dog is right on his heels, hubby's shadow AND later in the evening is extremely cooperative when he sits near me, wanting me cuddling him, you can't help it!!

WE'RE LEAVING FOR A WEEK and he's staying with my sister in law in Loveland. Been there 3 times, loves it, cool grass to roll around in AND my sister in law will totally spoil him even more, if possible.

AT PETCO I SAW "Separation Anxiety" onesies so to speak, I guess to give the dog the impression he's actually being hugged????? Kinda a tight body suit.

How do we leave him when time to go? Sneak out? Have a good "talk" with him, soothing sounds Mom and Paw will be back soon...I don't know... maybe I'm just over analyzing this? But we LOVE LOVE LOVE our "sugar butt". What's a mom to do???

P.S. FYI (probably obvious), had him 3 yrs and first time we're leaving him with someone, and he was a rescue dog, saw him on Channel 7 one Saturday and had to have him

Yep you got it....over analyzing. Have a great time on your week away, everyone deserves a break. You dog will also have a great time, he'll be happy to see you when you return, but won't lose sleep while you're gone.

We "baby-sit" our granddoggy, Lucy, whenever our daughter and family leave on vacation or whenever needed. As much as she loves us, Lucy obviously would rather go with her family - so to make it as less stressful as possible I take her outside in the back yard to play and look for squirrels while who-ever dropped her off quietly leaves through the front door with no fanfare or fond farewells etc. After I know they've left I bring Lucy back inside and naturally she runs to the front door to see if they're still out there. There may be a little whimpering but I distract her with playing and before long she settles into our routine. The biggest thing is keeping a dog on its schedule - feeding and walking the same times if possible. All the experts advise that the less fuss made when you leave your dog, the better. And you can look forward to the most joyful reunion when you return from your trip. I hope this has been helpful.

I should also mention that Lucy loves to play with our little dog, Sophie, which makes her stay more enjoyable. But don't worry if your sister-in-law doesn't have a doggy playmate for your little woofer - it just means more loving and cuddling for him.

There's just something about rescue dogs, isn't there? You hate to leave them. We're on our third!

Yes, I agree. Just go and enjoy your trip. Sounds like your dog will be in good hands. Dogs don't think of time the same way we do. In fact, from what I've read, they have no concept of the concept. The dog won't know if you're gone for a short while or for a few days.

Unfortunately, dogs that suffer from real separation anxiety have really bad problems and often harm themselves to try to escape their homes when the owner is gone. They want to folllow their pack and not be left alone. My dog has jumped through closed windows twice when left alone. I don't leave her alone anymore. Both times she injured herself, the second time after much work with a trainer. She almost lost one of her ears when it was sliced by the window pane as she sailed through it. It's nothing to play around with.

So, enjoy the trip. Your dog doesn't have separation anxiety from what I can tell.

The less fuss you make over leaving the easier it will be for your baby.
Emotional good bye, be good scenes often can CREATE separation anxiety in dogs that might not have it!

Love the idea of going out back and you leave! If your sister is spoiling the little one you will be missed, but maybe not as much as you would like....

One other thing to do to ease your mind, and remind your dog of home, is to send him with a blanket or sheet off of the bed you've been sleeping in, before you wash it, that way he can sleep with it at night and smell you guys (no offense) :-)

I come home from work everyday to an assortment of slippers brought from my room to the downstairs where they hang out, they don't chew, but they snuggle! At least my house isn't getting torn up! :-)

I have always had someone stay at my house to watch the dogs while I am on vacation. That way nothing changes for them except that I am not there. Once though when I returned, my lab was upset with me and wouldn't welcome me home. He did get over it fairly quickly, but he wanted me to know that he doesn't like it when I leave him.

Our first collie, Abby, was very much a daddy's girl. In those days my husband did a lot of business travel, usually only 2 or 3 days at a time, and Abby would greet his return ecstatically. Then he went away for 2 weeks. On his return, she came running at full speed. Suddenly when she was about 10 feet away, she came to an abrupt halt. There were almost scorch marks on the carpet. She looked at him accusingly for a long moment. It was if she was thinking "I forgot, I'm not talking to you. You left me". She then tossed her head and walked away.

It was 3 days before she forgave him.

Back on topic though, I agree with cide: a blanket (or slippers) is a great idea.

And don't forget to request daily phone calls. From your sister-in-law, not the dog.

Mr DL travels so Daisy is ok with that but when he's home and I run to the store for something like that..................she howls and whines at the front door and he's says there is nothing he can do to console her.

Because of this, we haven't been away from her for 4 years and we would really like to get away..........even for a day or two but afraid that she won't do well

I would love to know how it goes for you BuddysMom and the sheet or blanket from the bed sounds like a great idea cide - I think we will try that once we decide to go somewhere.

We keep our granddog and she has NO problems at all. In fact, when my son and his wife come back................she looks up at them like, "Hey, where you guys been?" then runs out the back door and doesn't want to go home. But they live in an apartment in Denver and she has 2.5 fenced acres to catch voles and dig and run and she would rather stay with us

If we left, we would leave her with our son and I'm not so sure she will do well in an apartment.....................OH SHEESH - I didn't worry this much about my kids!!!

Last yr , we took my dog to a kennel for a free day camp ,she seemed to like it , got a full report card on how she did ,played well with others , etc. and last Aug she got to stay there for 5 nights while me 'n mom was onna trip to Ohio , dog barely ate tha first night , then did good , big point was , they hadda outside playground fer tha pooches ,.
And my pooch is a chicken lips to be away from us . But she did just fine .

We had our first dog since he was 13 weeks and for 2 years before we had to leave him to go on a vacation. We took him to my parents, we had all his toys, bed, food, etc in his suitcase, and a t-shirt from us in his bed. We left for a while the first day, and went shoppping and running around and then came back, to show him that we would always come back for him. Then the next day, we left for our cruise. I think I hurt worse than he did (cried all the way to the hotel) about leaving him. My parents sent emails every day saying what he was doing or did. When he appeared to "miss" us, mom said he would go sniff the suitcase and t-shirts in the spare bed room and then he would be okay. Boy....was he glad to see us when we got back.
I'm sure your little furbaby will be just fine. Especially if he has been over to your sister-in-law's already.

Enjoy your vacation.