Someone's Missing

Whenever Ken or I am away from the house for a long time, both Emme and Rudy get hyper-vigilant. If we are only gone for three or four hours, the dogs seem to think that is fine. They go on with their lives without a care. But if one of us is gone all day, after about six hours, the dogs go on alert. It is like they decide that someone is missing. She/He has been gone long enough and the dogs are super alert waiting for the return. If a car goes down the street, Emme is up on the back of the couch, checking if that is the car that will stop at our house. Rudy runs to Ken's office to look out the window to see if one of our cars is coming into the garage.

Yesterday Ken was gone for the day and the dogs were fine until about four o'clock. From then on, every time there was a noise outside, they thought it was Ken. It was like living with two pets with ADHD. Nap, bark, play, bark, bark, nap, etc., etc., etc. They have a real sense about how things are supposed to be and that includes two people in the house.