Pete the Vet: Are you going back to office? Here are 10 tips to get your pet ready to be home alone

Pete the Vet: Dogs see humans as key members of their pack: they depend on us for their social lives

With COVID restrictions easing, an increasing number of Irish pet owners are saying farewell to remote working, and hello to the traditional office routine. This will be a shock to many people’s systems: most of us have adjusted with ease to the removal of the commute and the different style and pace of working from home. But it may be an even bigger shock for the nation’s dogs: older dogs have enjoyed the extra human contact time, and pandemic puppies have never experienced life at home alone.

Dogs see humans as key members of their pack: they depend on us for their social lives. There’s a serious risk that many dogs will start to suffer from separation anxiety in the coming weeks. This can be more than mildly distressing: badly affected dogs bark, howl, urinate and defaecate in the house, chew anything within reach (from furniture to doors to walls) and they suffer immensely from the psychological distress.