If you've been home with your pet during the pandemic, you know what's coming: separation anxiety.
Soon we'll be heading back to the office and taking vacations instead of staycations. Many of us are likely to find leaving home difficult because we've become so attached to our faithful animals.
"We are getting lots of calls from people going back to work," said Adam Feingold, owner of Dogstown University, a dog day care in Deerfield Beach, Fla. "People want to be reassured that their dogs will not be alone. They have been attached at the hip for a year."
Some pet owners may be concerned that they've become overly attached to their pets during quarantine. But these human-animal connections are healthy — pandemic or no pandemic — said Karyn Hoffman, a Boca Raton social worker and therapist.
"As a dog lover, I understand this," Hoffman said. "Research shows animals have a calming effect on us. If your animal is your companion, you are going to miss them when you leave the house."
When the pandemic hit, Lindsay Beattie of Fort Lauderdale took in a foster puppy to keep her and her 12-year-old Shih Tzu mix, Doc, company. She fell in love with Moose, a purebred Shih Tzu who is now 18 months old, and decided to keep him.
Now that she's starting back to work as a sales manager for a multinational company, she's likely going to travel once again. To ease the transition, she's hiring dog-sitters who will stay at her house while she's gone.
"The older one is happy when I leave," Beattie said. "The younger one is like, 'How dare you?' That creates anxiety for me. He is so spoiled."
Lisa Laufman of Deerfield Beach put off going back to work as long as possible. Eventually, though, the commercial insurance manager had to leave Missy, a kitten she adopted in January.
"When I knew I had to go back, I would leave the house for a few hours at a time to get her ready," she said. "Now I go home at lunchtime to check on her. I don't even want to go out at night because I want to be with her."
Kim Serota of Coral Springs adopted Murphy, a Bernedoodle puppy, last summer.
"Our puppy was accustomed to having us 24/7," Serota said. "We weren't going places. No one was coming over."
Last fall, she was called back to work and her kids went back to school. Serota hired a dog walker, who walked Murphy and stayed with him for an hour. Now, the walker stays with him for half an hour. In the coming months, Serota hopes to wean Murphy from his midday exercise.
Pet owners should rest assured that their animals will be just fine, therapist Hoffman said.
"We've all gone so long without socializing and travel, the benefits to us will outweigh the separation anxiety," she said.
Alone time for dogs
For those who will be leaving their dogs home when they return to work, Jeff Nelson of Palm Beach Dog Academy offers these tips:
• Keep your dogs mentally stimulated when you're with them. Give them lots of attention. Take them out in public. Teach them to sit and stay.
• Make sure they get several good walks or playtime in the yard each day. Take them out first thing in the morning, feed them, then walk them before work. When you come home, take them on a 10-minute walk that includes training to obey commands, have some dinner and take them out again. "The more short walks, the better," he said.
• Leave the television or radio on when you're gone so the dogs are comforted by human voices.
• Use an interior camera so you can watch what your pets are doing in the house. Newer cameras allow for "two-way conversations" and will even throw your dog a treat.
• Don't leave them alone for more than eight hours. If you'll be out longer, hire a dog walker to come in the middle of the day.
