If we have not already returned to work, we will be soon.
After having been home now for almost three months, naturally there will be a period of adjustment for us. Like adjusting to new Covid19 related changes at our workplace and adjusting back to the pre-Covid practices we’ve already forgotten, like how to put together an outfit, sans active wear and track suit pants!
But perhaps the biggest adjustment for us may be returning to work and leaving your dog home alone.
At home, we may have a very self confident and self contained cat who’s been wondering for months now when the house and all the good sunny spots will be returned to their royal domain. But maybe we have a recently re-homed little dog with whom we’ve been working hard to reduce their anxiety and build their confidence and independence? Or maybe we have a healthy, happy, unflappable old mutt who’s simply become really, really used to us being home so much more?
When returning to work and leaving your dog home alone, let us first acknowledge that it’s not just daytime, Monday to Friday we’ve been home more, we’ve also been home more on weekends too. We’ve been home, mostly, all week.
We’ve literally been hanging with our pet pals 24/7 – for months!
But all that is changing.
So before those changes come into effect, let’s look at some ways we can make returning to work and leaving our dog home alone, a healthy and happy process for all. Let’s provide our dog with the healthiest, happiest opportunity to wrest their favourite sunny spot away from the cat!
Returning to work and leaving your dog home alone ~ the healthier, happier way!
1. Take your dog to work 
This may not be an option for you. But have you asked?
Lots of work places offer dog friendly environments these days and it works successfully, especially for those staffers who don’t have a dog at home. Work becomes so much better when there’s dogs to pat.
If your work place can conceivably host your dog, even a couple of days a week, then put some thought into the health and safety aspects – especially those of your dog! Get confirmation that bringing your dog to work does not contravene any local ordinances, then approach management with a plan.
An article by PMC and the International Journal of Environment and Public Health states that bringing dogs to work has many positive effects, for example, empirical evidence supports the notion that dogs may provide social support, improve performance, and increase social interactions. Having your dog at work may indeed be the perfect tool your work is looking for to facilitate a confident and calm Covid19 return to work policy!
And when five o’clock Friday afternoon comes around, take your pooch, a few colleagues and go support your local dog friendly bar! Ours is amazing! Thank you The Tipsy Cow, Port Melbourne!
2. Ask a neighbour to dog sit
I don’t know about you, but in this quiet time at home during Covid19 Isolation, I have gotten to know our neighbours better; chatting with them over the balcony, checking in with them, making sure they are travelling ok and have a good supply of cake. Perhaps you could ask a neighbour to dog sit? Even if it were one day a week? Perhaps they are dog people, not in a position to get a dog themselves and would be tickled pink to have a doggie to LOVE?
My Mum used to walk and dog sit an enormous and very gorgeous English Sheepdog named Yogi. Yogi belonged to a little old lady in our neighbourhood who could no longer walk him and when she needed surgery, she needed someone to care for Yogi full time until she recovered properly.
When we were growing up, our family dogs were not allowed inside the house except for sleeping in the laundry at night. But Yogi, pink ribbon holding his fringe out of his eyes and all, spent his days inside our home, sprawled across our kitchen floor while Mum baked!
So your dog may get a really good deal at the neighbours’!
3. Get the professionals to dog sit
These days there are plenty of doggie daycare facilities and dog walkers who’ll happily care for your dog for all or part of the day for a fee.
CHECK THEM OUT THOROUGHLY!
The doggie daycare facilities we know are staffed by dog lovers and THIS makes all the difference. Check reviews, ask for reviews, read the testimonials and Facebook pages. Not all those in this industry are dog lovers and you do not want your dog with anyone but a dog lover.
The professional doggie day carers we know and LOVE are in Melbourne and both will treat your dog to our amazing Genki Pet behaviour changing Aromatherapy blends. Because it makes total sense to be utilising the power of natural therapy in calming dogs and helping them socialise with confidence when you’re grooming, walking, training, taking them on excursions and caring for them on a daily basis right?!
We LOVE and trust:
Hairy Hounds Playground, Williamstown
Diggiddy Doggy Daycare, South Melbourne
4. Begin with short outings, without our dog
For lots of us, when we are returning to work and leaving your dog home alone, this will be back to business as usual. And that means for our dogs, hanging out at home all day is what they are used to…or should I say were used to pre-Covid19 Isolation. Just like us returning to work will take some adjustment, some time to get into the swing of things and naturally our dogs may be the same. And even if they aren’t, because we are, they will be too – taking their behavioural cues from us as they instinctively do.
So wouldn’t it be ok to do a few little trial runs? Some trips out of the house without our dog to see how they’ll be with us gone all day. Starting small, like a meal at our local restaurant, building up to a few hours to do the groceries and even most of the day on an outing to the country. Whatever tickles your fancy, let’s give ourselves and our dogs some advanced notice about the changes to our schedule that are about to happen, sparing them the surprise and shock of our absence from home.
5. Ensure our dog is getting plenty of exercise
There is such a thing as too much exercise and too much stimulation, but most dogs and according to breed, feel much more relaxed with a good amount. And we do too. So even though it is dark and cold, make time for that wee walk in the mornings or that run on the beach before heading to work for the day.
Yes – it’s a no brainer. But in recreating our post-Covid19 Isolation lives, plenty of exercise for us and our dogs is a vital piece of the puzzle.
If you are new to the whole “dog thing”, have a dog you are concerned about leaving when you return to work or simply would like to better understand your furry friend, get the help of internationally diploma qualified Canine Communication tutor, Kerry Watt from Gourmet Pawprints. Kerry is passionate about creating happy, healthy and safe dog interactions.
With the Canine Communication class online now, you can easily have all your doggie questions answered by an expert, including what your dog is trying to tell you about how much exercise and stimulation is best for them.
6. Keep the rest of our lives as same-same as possible
So with all the new stuff, all the new changes to our months of post-Covid19 Isolation, how reassuring and positively calming to think of maintaining our own household equilibrium, furry family included.
No matter how much we LOVE holidays, humans LOVE routine more. We can trust it. And our doggies are the same. Skip that daily walk and we know all about it. So “control the controllables”. This is a positive and very achievable Mental Health strategy for us all right now.
7. Create the atmosphere at home we want, by being relaxed and looking after our own mental and physical health
Monkey see, monkey do.
While none of us actually have monkeys for pets, our doggies do behave like little monkeys sometimes and certainly follow our lead, picking up on our mood, energy and behaviour. Simply put, if we are calm, they will be too.
So get organised about returning to work and leaving your dog home alone.
Leave ourselves plenty of time to get to work on time.
Plan our return to work schedule so there’s extra time for pats, cuddles, almost endless games of fetch and even time for cleaning up little mishaps due to anxiety.
Getting the vibe right within ourselves and our home environment ~ naturally!
Getting the vibe right within ourselves and our home environment is key to returning to work and leaving our dog home alone in a healthier, happier way. In this regard, there’s no better tool in your calming tool kit than our totally natural, behaviour changing Aromatherapy blend for relieving anxiety and hyperactivity – Stillness & Calm.
Made with highest quality, human grade Essential Oils, our Aromatherapy blend for relieving anxiety and hyperactivity can be spritzed around your home, on you, on your dog, on their bedding etc. It is really functional and easy to use and we have been told many times that once the doggie’s bed is spritzed with Stillness & Calm, that’s exactly where folks will find their dog. In their Stillness & Calm bed! Just ask Caitlin, Louis and Holly!
Stillness & Calm works on your dog and you by the calming, quietening and balancing effects the constituents of the oils have on your circulatory, lymphatic and respiratory systems. By introducing the power of its scientifically formulated blend of pure Essential Oils into the external environment of your home, Stillness & Calm creates the internal environment within which your dog and you can quieten and exhale.
Genki Pet Aromatherapy spritzes ~ for pets and their people
For more information about our amazing smelling, behaviour changing blends, you may like to read our most recent blog: Aromatherapy for pets and people.
Or we invite you to visit our website.
We have been told so many times now, we are living in “unprecedented” times. That means we are faced with situations we may not have been faced with before. But when returning to work and leaving our dog home alone after all this time together in Isolation, there are a few things we can do to make life for our dogs and ourselves less stressful, more calm and relaxed. And that’s the perfect situation in which we’ll all thrive!
And in a nutshell, that’s our goal here at Genki Pet!
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