E4: Leaving your dog alone

Listen to episode 4. Available wherever you listen to your podcasts.

Ben has three phrases he uses with Bowie. "Won't be long" means a few hours. "See you soon" means a few days. If he says "see you soon," Bowie goes under the sofa. Bruce backs out of the apartment facing inward, playing goalie, because the moment Tatiana opens the door Judge makes a run for it. Makenzie's angry zoomies start before the door has even closed, the tense kind, targeting you, body-slamming, and she mirrors whoever is leaving, which means if I am anxious about going, she already knows.

In all three households, the leaving has begun before anyone has gone anywhere.

This is a conversation about what happens on both sides of the door.

Bruce backs out of every departure facing inward, playing goalie, and it hasn't always worked. Tatiana came home once to a couch gutted from the inside, stuffing across the floor, and found Judge lying on the bed with his paw laid deliberately over the hole. When she moved him to look, he scooted himself further across it, still trying to keep the evidence covered.

The conversation moves through what dogs are actually responding to when someone leaves, the duration or the emotional state carried to the door. Through the cameras: Ben watching Bowie pace in the cinema and finding it made things worse, not better, to watch. Through a friend who forgot her dog for an entire workday, came home dreading the worst, and found her fast asleep on the couch.

Which side of the door settles first?