When you are leaving your beloved furry friend alone at home while you are at work or somewhere else, you may not have any idea about how your dog is dealing with loneliness alone.
Thereby, as a dog owner, you possibly can get concerned thinking that what could be the possible thoughts of your dog when he is alone at home. Therefore, to get an insight into your pet dog’s thinking, let’s read further to learn the rationales.
What Do Dogs Think About When They Are Left Home Alone?
When dogs are left alone at home, they mainly think about their owners as dogs are social animals and prefer human company. Dogs also think about voicing their anxiety and sadness. Sometimes dogs reminisce about an eventful moment, think about playing, going for a walk, or about their next meal.
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Inherently dogs are human-friendly animals and always love to stay close to human touch. But due to work purposes or any other reason, you may need to leave your furry friend home alone.
And during this lonesome period, your beloved pup can have various thoughts in its mind.
Therefore, an overview has been listed below regarding all the possible thinking that can come across in the mind of your beloved pet dog when you leave him behind alone.
Think About Owner Or Favorite Person:
When a dog has left home alone, it’s scientifically proven that the very first thought that crosses its mind is about its owner’s or favorite person’s whereabouts.
Similarly, when you will be leaving your dog behind, he is most likely to think about you like when will you return to him. All-day you might run through his mind, your dog can get worried thinking about your well-being too.
Think Of Expressing Apprehension:
Dogs are prone to become anxious and upset when they are left alone.
So, during the times of your absence, your dog possibly can have uncertain feelings and thoughts like perhaps he has been abandoned by you.
Therefore, your dog will just think of voicing his dismay, anxiety, and anguish by barking, howling, or being destructive in his alone time.
Think Of Moments From Recent Past:
A study carried over dogs disclosed findings that dogs reminisce or dream about eventful moments from their recent past.
And this concludes to another point that your dog is most likely to think or dream about moments spent with you, or the last great meal he had, or about a past fun activity. Sometimes, he can recall previous owners or fearful incidents too.
Think Of Their Day:
When you are leaving your dog behind, he can think of the time he spent with you throughout the day, or the meal he had earlier, or the playtime he spent playing with you.
Shortly, your dog will think about all the activities he did throughout the day before he was left alone.
Think Of Future:
Along with reminiscing and dreaming about past incidents, your dog can think about the future too. While you are away, your canine friend may plan his future actions such as what trick he can show to another dog to express their capability and others.
Are Dogs Okay Home Alone All Day?
Generally, to say, no dogs really don’t feel okay home alone all day because dogs are social animals and they are not meant to be left for all day long. Especially when it’s a dog breed that is highly prone to suffer from separation anxiety or a dog breed with a small bladder.
However, if it’s a well-trained adult dog that doesn’t suffer from separation anxiety that much can be left home alone up to 4-6 hours in a day.
Should I Leave My Dog Home Alone Overnight?
Leaving your dog home alone overnight varies from one dog breed to another. If you have gotten a dog that responds well to being departed overnight and doesn’t suffer from separation anxiety, you may leave him alone over the night.
However, you must take precautions and arrange a suitable environment around him before leaving your dog alone. But if your dog is clingy and feels extremely stressed when you are not around, you absolutely can’t leave him alone overnight.
Do Dogs Get Sad, Lonely, Or Depressed When They Are Alone?
Dogs certainly get sad, lonely, or depressed when they are alone because even though they are animals, they have emotions and they are emotionally attached to their owners and family members.
Therefore, when dogs are all alone, they miss their owners or family members and get lonely, and loneliness makes them sad or depressed. Besides some dog breeds are instinctively prone to get sad, lonely, or depressed.
How To Keep Dog Entertained And Happy When Home Alone?
It’s inevitable for you to leave your dog alone at home if you are a working dog master.
Thence to help you out in keeping your beloved pooch engaged and pleased during the home alone period, 5 effective tips are provided.
Make Your Dog Exercise Before Leaving:
Making your dog exercise before you leave him alone at home is a proven easiest way of keeping him captivated and delighted.
It’s because when your dog will exercise for a good amount of time before he is home alone, his pent-up energies will be all used, thereby, he will stay mentally and physically stimulated.
Provide A Window Seat:
Dogs like to look outside and enjoy outside views. So you can provide your dog with a window seat at your home. Just find a window that offers interesting backyard or street views with an open wide sky and set your dog’s bed or favorite blanket there.
Keep curtains open and motivate him to spend time there enjoying different views.
Tune In To TV:
Leave your TV turned on and tune in to channels like Animal Planet, Discovery, or other channels where programs related to animals are aired. And keep the TV turned on behind.
Your dog will stay fascinated and mentally stimulated by watching and hearing other animals on TV.
Scavenger Hunt Game:
Scavenger hunt game is a great solution when you want to leave your dog alone.
To set this scavenger hunt game around your home, you can use both small stuffed toys and small amounts of treats.
And before leaving home, scatter either these small toys or treats or both at places where your pooch prefers to spend time so that he can keep himself busy and happy hunting toys or treats.
Leave Exciting Toys:
Dogs enjoy playing with various exciting toys. So you can just leave lots of different types of exciting toys for your furry friend to play with and remain entertained while you are not home.
You can give him chew toys, stuffed chew toys with treats like peanut butter or his favorite snack, puzzle games, companion toys, etc.
Tips For Owners Leaving Their Dog Home Alone While At Work?
Leaving your dog home alone while you are at work sometimes can be a little troublesome. So to find a solution to your issues, check out these 5 useful tips and apply them while you are away.
Leave Easy Access To Meal And Water:
Your dog requires food to eat and water to drink throughout the day even when you are away from home. Therefore, you must leave nutritious foods and lots of fresh drinking water in separate bowls at an accessible spot from where your dog can easily eat and drink.
Let Your Dog Recognize Where To Poop/Pee:
Before you decide to leave your pooch alone, you must potty train him so that he does not pee/poop all around the home.
You should allow your pooch to decide on a spot where he wants to relieve himself then train him to use that spot as his bathroom. You can use pee pads or grass pads to mark his spot as a bathroom.
Maintain A Constant Routine:
Even if you are not home, it is important to maintain a constant everyday routine to make your dog feel secure. So take your dog for a walk/exercise routine-wise to help him lose pent-up energy and make sure that he gets to eat and drink at the same time every day.
Provide Your Dog A Good Exercise Session:
You must let your dog exercise for a sufficient amount of time before you leave him alone. Because exercises or other physical activities will help your dog to stay mentally and physically stimulated throughout the day. So he won’t act hyperactively in your absence.
Leave Entertainment Sources:
It’s essential to keep a dog entertained while leaving him alone. So before you leave your dog alone, arrange enough entertainment sources for him.
You can leave the TV turned in the background, can arrange puzzle games/treats hunting games behind you, and can leave interesting toys for him to play with.
What Breed Of Dog Can Stay Home Alone?
Many of you may want to know what dog breeds are capable of living alone without having or creating any big problems, so here’s a shortlist of such dog breeds that have been provided for your knowledge.
- Maltese
- Chihuahua
- Grayhound
- Shar Pei
- French Bulldog
- Boston Terrier
- Bullmastiff
- Chow Chow
- Akita
- Lhasa Apso
- Basenji
Final Thoughts
The thoughts of dogs when they are alone are quite specific, dogs firstly think about their owner’s or favorite person’s whereabouts and worry for them. Dogs also recall the good moments spent with their masters or having a good meal. Dogs sometimes think of vocalizing their anxiety and dismay too.