The Theory of Separation

I don't know the answer to this, but there is an interesting theory that each time an owner leaves a dog, be it for 15 minutes, half a day or a fortnight, the dog does not know that the owner plans to return. How can it ? In other words, from the dog's perspective, the owner has simply "Gone" out of its life.
The question is whether or not the dog has, under any circumstances, any hope (if dogs do hope) or expectation of a return.
Perhaps if the separation follows an established pattern, the dog becomes conditioned to expect a return at a particular time, provided that it has some concept of time.
Without a pattern for reference, the dog may at first "hope" for a return of its owner, but with the passage of time that anticipation must surely fade to the point where it disappears.
What then ? Does the dog become temporarily detatched from its owner and re-attached if and when the owner comes back ? And how long before a detachment becomes permanent, if ever ? Do re-homed dogs, for example, forget their original owner ?
Any thoughts or experiences ?

Very interesting topic Paul. I am going to have a think about it while I walk my dogs and will come back with my thoughts later! (for what they're worth!!)

Watched a programme about American police and their dogs, and they rehome the dogs when they get to an age that is in their opinion too old to work in the police. The policeman gets 1st choice. This one cop had agreed to take a new dog and therfore decided to rehome his old faithful dog which he did with success. Some time later I think it was arounbd two years his new dog was shot in action and he went into a spiral of depression, his superior thought he might like to see his old dog and took him to see him and after a relatively short tiome this dog reverted back to how he was with his master years previously......makes you think

My puppy whines when i go to work at the same time everyday and my OH says he just sits by the door every morning for about 15 minutes then sits with him for the rest of the day with no trouble. Then when i return he goes mental for 5 minutes then settles down with me and ignores my OH. He does this every time i leave but then when my OH goes out he sits by the door whining for him until he seems to just forget about it and gets on with his doggy business I think he understands to an extent and then he just thinks "oh well lets play"

We always got a rapturous greeting from our old dog after 2 weeks in kennels. Perhaps it is a familiar smell that they know.

Earlier this year I was away for a week and our new dog stayed at home with the rest of the family and moped.
When I returned he went bonkers for a while and wouldn't leave my side.

He obviously remembered me but not sure if it was me as a person or because my individual scent is normally associated with good things in his life - feeding, walking etc.

He also definitely knows the sound of the 3 different cars belonging to various members of the family. He will ignore other cars that stop outside but always gets up and runs to the front door or the side gate when he hears the right car stop outside. So in this case it would seem as though he has trained himself to associate a particular sound with the appearance of a particular person.

Very interesting topic.

Another thought with rehomed dogs is that often the ones that have had a bad experience with a particular type of person eg a man or young children, will often be very wary of that type of person in the future.

Does this then mean that they don't remember a person in particular but remember a type of person? You sometimes see dogs for rehoming advertised as being wary around males/females/small children etc. so if they do remember individual people then perhaps they would only be wary around that person and not others of the same gender/type.

Oh no I thought Harley loved me for myself and not just cos I look after him

I think if dogs are familiar with times and events that happen around them, then they know what to expect, i.e. that the owner will return. Since having my Mum living with us when I go off to work, she tells me they know exactly the time I am due to come home, as they both wander outside on the drive and wait by the gates (I always thought they only did this when they actually heard me coming?). Also, I have often gone off for a week at a time over the years with my older dog being left at home with o/h, and eventually she came to understand that Mum would return at the end of it, be it a week or whatever. However, having rescued my 2nd dog 18 months ago, the first time I disappeared for a week he must have thought I had disappeared out of his life, coz on my return he went absolutely mental and never left my side for quite a while, and he got quite upset even when I went out the door on my own. I can imagine what went through his mind, thinking he'd found such a lovely home to live in, and the one thing he loved the most had gone from all this security he had found, so I absolutely agree that dogs do think and hope and maybe question? The difference in the two dogs on my return after a long spell is quite amazing, in fact, I'm sure my older dog says to him "see, I told you she'd be back!"

Very intersting Paul, I unfortunately had to experience this last week, and will also experience it this week.

I believe that when a routine is in force a dog will look to that time. As proven last week. My pup Roxy, has rarely been left by herself. Last week I had no dog sitter and therefore had to leave her from 8am till 12pm then again from 2pm till 6pm. The first two days she had serious seperation anxiety, she howled the place down and didn't let up. By the Friday she didn't make a sound, I believe it is because by then she realised I was always coming home at set times.

This week however I am away from her for the full week and will not see her again till Friday. I believe detatchment happens here.

Last time I went away for a week, I came back and although I got a glorious welcome I found she was a bit wary of me, she tended to stick to my OH's side a lot more and it took a good 3 days before she actually sat in the lounge with me instead of waiting for my OH to come home.

I do think that dogs remember it just takes them a while.

Do you find that your dogs favour one of you more than the others in your household Sanchez will always follow me around when i am home and will not even sit with my OH when i am with him but when i go out to work he will sit with my OH and fall asleep with him and everything Seems strange to me :smt017

With us, I think it depends on who she has spent the most time with, my OH finds it upsetting that when she is left with me for the week so tends to follow me around and wont really be around him, However when she is left alone with him for the week she does the same thing to me, wont follow me around and will stick with my OH.

As we both do this often I am hoping Roxy will learn that we are equal, as Dobermanns tend to be a one man dog. and this way we are not really giving her the opporunity to choose. I will say though I find she tends to listen to my OH more with commands, however I think thats purely down to the fact he is a lot more harsh with her than I am.

I wont change my ways so I hope one day she'll realise I am the good 'fair' cop