Do They REALLY Know???

[shelly]

I posted this in the forum too, but thought maybe I might get some other views here.....

I know "they" say dogs have no concept of time. When you leave and come home, they greet you the same way whether you've been gone for 5 minutes or 5 days.  So here's my question....Can dogs tell that you have been gone 

for days? Do they feel differently when we are just gone for a day at work, or if we are gone for a week of vacation?   Tori is with my in-laws while we are vacationing in Florida.  We call and check on her every day and my mother-in-law says she's "lonely".  Do dogs really have"people" feelings?

[cheryl & oliver]

I am not an expert, but I think they do. Oliver is really very attached to us, and when we leave him, which is not often, but sometimes we have to, and he stays with my cousin who absolutely adores him. He has other dogs to play with there including our other dog, but I have seen a little bit of what I would call sadness in his expression when we leave. I have watched him without his knowing to make sure he is ok after a few minutes and he seems fine, running and playing etc. He eats well, and does fine with her, but when we come to get him, he is all over us, almost hugging us. I always feel some guilt when I leave them, but it is necessary and i know he is in good hands...But I do think they can miss us, they have feelings as we do, maybe not on the same level, but I believe they do...We are in Florida, where are you staying???

[shelly]

I always think of Tori as another "human" member of our family any way! Another thing she does is put her head down on the back of our couch and watch the kids play when we don't let her out with them... she looks like she's sulking! LOL I think I even heave a picture on my profile...We are at Orange Lake Time Share - going to Disney. We leave tomorrow.. then home to my "puppy girl"!

[Frannie & Callie]

Shelly - I still love that you call Tori "puppy girl". That is a frequent nickname for Callie too!

[shelly]

:O) Thanks Frannie! That - she'll always be...Just like I still call my boys "baby" - and they are 17 and 12.... LOL (Did you ever read that book I'll Love You Forever??? - so true, but sad..)

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Our Springer greets us as if we had been gone forever, even when we walk out to get the mail and return! He has lots of anxiety so that might be the reason. Because of this, the other dogs greet us whenever we come in the house with jumping around us, little yips of happiness, grabbing a toy to run around with etc. One dog swirling around us would be fine but four...... And we always ignore this enthusiastic display and walk into the kitchen.It never changes.
They do seem to know if my husband and I are leaving them longer because they don't eat for a couple of days, even though they are with one of the children and in our home.

[shelly]

Oh yes... I do think Tori knew something was up the day before we left - and everyone was busy scurrying around packing... she followed me all over the house that day!

[Lynne Fowler-Oodles of Doodles]

Dogs are pack animals and we are their pack. They are attached to the hierarchy of the pack and when you go away, that rank is changed. I think when we come back home, they are so excited because their sense of natural balance is back in order and that makes them feel safe.

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

Oh...they have a concept of time for sure! Gracie Doodle knows when it is 4:00 in the afternoon every day. She comes and finds me all excited and starts talking to me to let me know that it is time to go find her friends down the street and play. Also, when my husband is late coming home she sits and looks out the window for his car to come up the street. She always greets us daily with the same excitement when we walk into the house but when we take her to the Dog Ranch when we travel, oh my, the greeting is ten times more insane. She is sooooooo happy to see us!

[Adina P]

I think a concept of time lapsed and a concept of 'time of day' are totally different. I am not sure they understand 'time lapsed' but they do understand time of day because they are keen observers of our behaviors and the clues those behaviors give. So dogs who seem to know what time it is, have learned to predict this based on routine/schedule that we follow.

If I get home in the afternoon (after Rosco's been alone for a while) after 3pm he usually assumes it's dinner time even though his dinner time is 5pm because when I have gotten home around dinner time I typically feed him right away.

[Denice Caouette]

Yes, I also believe that they do know. Mine are not left home very often and do travel with us most of the time, but of course there are those occasional times when they must stay behind. Coco and Sabrina will lay in front of the door when they see the suitcases come in and will stay there trying to "block" the way! We have a very good home care situation where we leave them and they love to see the people and other dogs, but are not happy when I leave without them. For days after we return they are my shadows, so close that I would step on them if I were not alert! They seem to say, "Are you going to leave us again?" It takes them several days to get comfortable after we have been gone!

[Taylor & Huff]

I think they know many things and have many people feelings.:) They feel love and happiness. I think they also feel sadness and anger. They are just little people. What I find interesting is that people say that their dogs detect peoples feelings but Huff never seems to detect any of our feelings, he seems to be happy most of the time. He is just like his own little person.

[Kyoko]

I think they know.... I sort of witnessed it this past weekend. Because it was a long weekend with Columbus day, both of my daughters came home from their schools. When they both entered the house, Charlie was beside herself, could not calm down for a little while. She just ran around the livingroom, and jumped from one couch to the other... The girls couldn't even pet her because her was soooo excited. In the other hand, Butter greeted them as usual, just came up to them and waged his tail. We thought that Charlie knew they were gone for a long time, while Butter could no longer figure out if they were gone for a long time or if it was just like normal daily return.