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Tips: When kids go back to school, pets can get lonely.
When kids go back to school, pets can get lonely.
With children all over the area heading back to school, what happens to pets once their playmates are gone for the day?
Dogs and cats, guinea pigs, reptiles and rabbits get used to having their human companions nearby during the long, hot days of summer.
But once mid-to-late-August rolls around, the yellow school bus appears and scenes throughout the area feature families (and often dogs) ganging up at the bus stop to take kids to class. Once the bus leaves, the dog returns home and the remaining humans often jump in their cars, also leaving for the day.
So, what happens to the dog (or cat)? Are they happy or sad to see the summer end and their humans go to school and work?
“Our dog Champ, a 2-year-old Shih Tzu, looks out the window for the kids when they’re gone,” explains Iris Widiger of Fenton, who accompanies her two sons, Mitchell 10, and Jack, 7, to the school bus stop.
“When we get home from school, Champ jumps up and scratches us,” says Mitchell Widiger, who helps feed, water and walk the dog with his brother.
Champ’s half-brother, Bailey, a year-old Shih Tzu, also hangs out with his family at the bus stop. “Once the kids leave, Bailey looks around the house for them,” explains mom Diane Barthelmass of Fenton. “On the first day of school, I was crying because my baby girl (Alayna, 6) was going off to school, and the dog was crying because the kids were gone. It was quite a mess.”
Daisy, a 5-year-old Golden Retriever mix, crawls under Emily Chac’s bed when she goes to school, according to mom Tina Chac of Fenton. “Daisy sleeps all day, resting up until Emily, 9, Meghan, 11, come home from school,” she says. “And then she just barks and barks.”
Patrick Tate, chief of veterinarians at Webster Groves Animal Hospital, says, “Many animals do react by just sleeping all day, but others get depressed and won’t eat. Dogs will often go into their main caregiver’s bedroom and sleep on their bed—or even in their closet—because they’re so lonely.”
“And in some cases, they get so bored that they will vent their frustration by urinating or defecating on the floor, chewing on pillows, towels or the furniture or do some other destructive behavior.”
“Cats will often become reclusive, and often they will start having litter-box problems,” he said.
But once the students or adults return home, you’ll see some “tail-wagging in the afternoon,” Tate says.
Lorraine Martinez, head trainer/training supervisor for the Humane Society of Missouri, says: “There are also those pets who may experience a form of separation anxiety when the kids go back to school. If they have not been given experiences where they learn to be independent, such as sleeping in their own beds and being left alone for short periods of time, the transition to being left alone for long periods may be stressful. ”
“One of the items we stress in our Behavior and Training 101 classes for dogs is the importance of routine for a pet’s well-being. If they are provided with structure and they have a general sense of when they will be fed and of when the family returns home, most pets should find the transition of children returning to school not very disruptive.”
Another possibility is to send your pet to school, explains Brad Watts of Chesterfield’s Petropolis, a boarding, grooming and day-care center for pets.
“If kids go to school, then why not send your dog to school, as well?” he suggests. “At dog school, they can work on behavior problems and also have fun.”
Watts says the return of kids to school isn’t “always a bad thing for the pet.
He views it as a “short-term problem because the pet realizes that eventually, everyone will come back home at the end of the day.”
Pet tips
Here are a few tips on what to do when your kids go back to school and a dog or cat is left alone:
• Leave the TV or radio turned on as company.
• Crate the dog, if necessary, with several toys (try those made by Kong, www.kongcompany.com).
• Take the dog to a day-care facility if lonely.
• Be patient. Most experts say dogs (or cats) eventually will adjust to a change in routine with their human caretakers gone for hours at a time.
Source: By Carolyn Olson St. Louis Post-Dispatch
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Maureen Adams
November 18th, 2007 at 3:43 am
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December 1st, 2007 at 8:29 am
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August 12th, 2008 at 4:22 pm
I guess, dogs are really capable of expressing what they really feel at the moment. Last month, I went back home for a vacation, I been away for a year since I am working here in the Middle East. My pet pomeranian, Beaver, was really happy when I arrived.. But what he showed when I was about to leave was extremely surprising.
We’re living on the second floor and everytime someone will leave and go downstairs.. my pet pomeranian will bark tremendously.. we dont know whats on his mind.. why he do it! Since he really enjoyed outside for fresh air we consider that he want to go out so whenever a person leave, he barks a lot.
But when I leave last month.. I was xtremely surprised. I cuddle Beaver and we took some pics at my room and I put him on my bed.. When its time to leave.. I get my bags and everything and I say bye.. but surprisingly he did’nt get down from my bed.. he just look at me with a sad eye as I go downstairs. he didnt bark which he usually does.. actually I missed the way he bark when I leave. Probably he knew that I will again leave.. thats why he chooses not to see me leave the door. Actually its the first time we saw him did’nt bark when somebody is leaving my parent also noticed it… and for me its something. I really miss my Beaver!
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