DO DOGS REALIZE HOW LONG YOU HAVE BEEN AWAY?

Do dogs realize how long you have been away?

It is often said that most of them don't. I mean they always perform the same franctically welcoming dance, whether you've been out just to check the mail or for a whole day's work.

Yet,some dogs are smarter and can make the difference between an excusable delay and a kind of carelessness.

Do they have an inner time clock, an hourglass, or do they just track the movement of the sun?

I really don't know, but, anyway, for those guys, time is not a thing to be trifled with, and, believe me, I know what I'm talking about.

Jolux, the very first dog I got, was rather fussy about punctuality.

When coming back from work, if I dared punch the clock ten minutes later than usual, a plea for mercy was vain.

I mean, I was quite sure to find him busy digging socks out of the washbin, tearing the newspaper, or even worse, surfing on the dining-room table to get a bite at the bamboo lampshade!

His naughty reprisals quickly showed me he always realized how long I had been away.

That smart dog was rather fussy about hours, but about days, as well!

Did he  hide a calendar in his basket and cross the squares as days went by?

I can't believe it, but then how could he make the difference between working days and days off?

I don't know, but at weekends the least attempt to go out without him immediately triggered his " I'm a poor lonesome dog " song!

For the sake of our neighbours, we used to take our " crooner " with us wherever we went.

Yet, once, we were to visit friends in Holland, and travelling with our puppy would have been a bit complicated, so we left him at my parents' for a " cuddles and treats " weekend.

When we came back and rang at my parents' door, we were expecting a wagging tail and cheerful woofs.

Well, we had all that, but just for a few seconds…

Suddenly he looked at us resentfully, and then turned his back on us and stared at the wall for the next couple of hours!!

That was the rate : one hour sulking for one day absent.

So, do dogs know how long you leave them? Well it's up to you to decide, but just let me tell you that whenever I leave my dogs at home, that's what I can read in their eyes :