Strange behavior after returning from vacation

[ckthomas00]

My husband and I went away for the first time since we've had Bruski. We were gone for 4 days and he stayed with my sister-in-law. He is very familiar with her and the house (we visit at least 1x per week). I was SO excited to see him upon our return...

Bruski was initially excited, but then was very stand-offish towards my husband and I when we got back to our house. I can't tell if its because he was tired, he's upset b/c his routine was interrupted, etc.

Has this happened to anyone else? My hubby jokes that he's mad we left him, but do dogs really get upset with their owners?

[kjwarnold]

Our first Cairn, Willie, used to get very ticked off when we took him to the groomers. When we picked him up, he would sit with his back to us in the car and not even look at for 10 minutes. Then he would give us a slow glance over his shoulder with a very disgusted look! It was too funny, really! So yes, I think they do get mad at us.

Packy has stayed once at a kennel and then several times with my parents. Each time he was very happy to see us and we got a complete bath from licking! He's not usually a licker, so we knew he was happy. He doesn't seem to get mad at us, but maybe that's because he's having such a good time that it's like going to camp.

[jodi0553]

Yesterday we picked Currey up from the kennel after a 10 day stay. He was let out and came running....right towards me...ears pinned with excitement...and then he passed RIGHT BY ME!!! He explored under the front desk and found some dropped treat crumbs. DH and I both called his name and tried to get him to come to us. No luck - too much FUN to be had. Then, the kennel owner came out and called him. He went straight to him. Then the owner told him to sit. Sat for him, too. I think he liked it at the kennel and knew if he came to us, he'd have to leave, so he wasn't going to let that happen (we go through this each and every visit to the dog park). Once I got him home, he greeted all the rooms of the house and romped with half a dozen toys, and has been acting pretty normal since then, although he has been begging to be pet far more than usual and has been slightly pushy in his "requests" for pettings.

[Scully'sMom]

I really believe that they can get "mad" or perturbed at us. Just like it was mentioned about Willie, my first Cairn if she was annoyed at us for some reason, would go into another room where we could still see her and sit with her back to us and glance backwards at us like "I'm NOT talking to YOU!" Reading about Willie just brought back a great memory for me about Ginger!

[Sarah]

Our first boarding experience was pretty horrible. Henry became very sick when we got home. The vet thinks the stress and excitement of us coming home is actually what made him sick since he wasn't sick at the kennel. He was VERY excited to see us when we picked him up. They brought him out on a leash and he was struggling very much to get to us as quickly as possible. He jumped at my husband and acted like we were saving him from torture. I still feel pretty bad about all of it. It was strange to us, because he's pretty well socialized. We didn't think it would freak him out so much.

We recently left him with a sitter (in her home), and he was aloof when we picked him up. Total opposite reaction. He acted like he didn't care that we were home. I know he recognized our house, because he ran right in and straight to his toy basket. He acted like we were strangers, though. He seemed to be better the next day, so I think he must've needed to get used to his normal routine again or something. It was strange, but much better than coming home to a sick puppy!

[Hagar]

Our previous dog ( Not a Cairn ) had a way of letting us know when he was mad. When he was mad about something, he would sit just out of reach, look us dead in the eye, and poop. He would do it so fast that he was done before we could react. It could be in the house or yard and he could do it even if he had just gone. We used the term "Revenge Dump" when he did it.

The most frequent "triggers" were just being groomed and using the vacuum cleaner. But the result was the same anytime he got mad about something.

Hagar.

[Eliz222]

We had a dog (not a Cairn either) that would ignore us after spending time away. It didn't last long and she was back to being her own self!

[Pepandfriend's mom]

My dogs have stayed with their former rescue mom if I had to leave them longer than two nights. Thank goodness for her kindness in babysitting her former fosters. She is really great. Usually my pups have played so much that they just want to crash on the sofa when they come home.

Pam

[kcsdogs]

A lot of dogs go through some stress after something like that and strange behaviors are pretty common, they usually get over it.