My dog didn’t even acknowledge my presence when I came home yesterday.

[SalviaBlue]

Normally, when I come home from work he is Very Happy To See Me and shows it by jumping around me and running to the treat jar so he can receive his “mom’s home treat.” Yesterday I had to run home to grab a document in the middle of the day (something I do from time to time, but not very often) and I realized that he was just lying on a chair watching me but not going into his welcome home routine. I went to my appointment and then had to stop by home again before returning to work and there he was in the chair, just watching me but not taking the trouble to get up.

He is so smart. He knew this was not my usual Happy, Happy, Joy, Joy, Done with Work, Lets Go For Walk return home, so he didn’t take the trouble to get all excited. When I came home at the end of the day he gave me my usual welcome.

[Phentex]

1. They are super smart!

He may have been perturbed you interrupted his nap!

[SalviaBlue]

2. I think you're right.

He seemed to be giving me a dirty look, like "why are disturbing me at this ungodly hour"

[Curmudgeoness]

4. Oh no, not the doggie stink eye!

Now, don't let anyone tell me that our pets cannot tell time! All of my cats have been able to tell time---to the minute. Freaks me out.

[SalviaBlue]

5. Yea, it's time to walk now...

But it's raining (which is really good since we are in CA) and I'm getting a big time doggie stink eye. He's like "it's okay, you can bath the mud off me when we come home."

Sorry puppy, not tonight.

[Curmudgeoness]

7. I would think that you would be so grateful for the rain

that you would be playing in it.

Dogs. They WILL play in the rain. And sing in the rain. And dance in the rain. Gotta love their enthusiasm.

[SalviaBlue]

8. I have been out in it and enjoying it today

And I feel really guilty about not taking Juneau out, but he is so big and will get so muddy.... I'm such a bad doggy momma

[Curmudgeoness]

9. I can appreciate that.

Wet dog......

[TorchTheWitch]

12. My first dog, Kato, despised rain

Though once he was wet he'd sometimes decide it was fun to play in especially if it rained really hard creating little rivers that run down the side of street curbs... he loved to chase things floating down those little rivers. Oddly, he also despised dirt and especially mud. Though he did like to dig where I allowed him to, and once he got dirty or muddy he didn't care anymore. If his feet were pristine he'd balk at having to step in dirt or even wet grass and would much prefer to walk 10 miles around mud in order to keep his feet tidy. My other two were/are dirt devils always digging in it, laying in it and rolling in it and loving to get sloppy muddy. Yoshi in particular loves dirt and mud so much he'll sometimes try to snack on it like he does with snow though with snow I noticed this year he eats like it's ice cream... I swear our yard always loses it's snow first out of everyone else because he's busy eating it all. Boo wasn't particularly enamored with snow, but my first, Kato, and Yoshi loved/love it so much so that you have to practically haul them out of it. Rather than doing all this shoveling this winter I should really have just sent out Yoshi to eat it all off and around my car and my steps and walkways... he likely could have done it a lot faster than me and my shovel and broom.

[SalviaBlue]

13. Juneau avoids water and mud too

Like your Kato, once he's wet he will get into it and enjoy it.

[silvershadow]

3. He knew it wasn't time. Anything out of the usual routine and my dogs act that way. (Though

they also usually revert to wanting a bone, lol)

[SalviaBlue]

6. Dogs are such creatures of habit...

And it seems with Juneau you only have to do it once, then the next day at the same time, he wants to do it again.

Everything is celebrated with a dance around the bone jar.

[silvershadow]

10. Oh, yes. Dad's home? Bone! Dad's putting his coat on and gonna leave? Bone! Dad's

going anywhere toward the bone jar? Bone! LOL

[TorchTheWitch]

11. sometimes my dogs have done that

Usually not though since with this dog and the last one I don't have a regular routine on leaving the house. My first dog was so ridiculously regimented that he didn't even acknowledge weekends as sleep-in days when I used to work a regular M-F, 9-5. He'd still try to wake me up at exactly 7:10 every morning just before the alarm would go off on work days whether it was a work day or not. He also had pretty bad separation anxiety so he was thrilled to pieces whenever I walked in the door, and I always felt so bad for him if I had to run home just to pick something up and run out again since he'd be devastated I was leaving again already. It wasn't until he got older that he got to no care about my comings and goings so much, and there were many times once he started getting arthritic that if he was sleeping somewhere else other than his favorite spot directly in front of the front door he would wait until I came to him (which was always the first thing I did) or would only come to look for me if he thought I was taking too long to come see him. Once he got the arthritis he liked to sleep a lot in my bed because the floor was too hard on his joints, but because I knew he never liked the bed because it was too warm for him in the warmer months and summer time I aimed the fan at one half of the bed for him so he could lay in the bed with air on him to cool him down or he could move to the top of the bed where the air from the fan didn't hit if the fan was making him too cool.

Since I've had two dogs that both live/lived in this house at different times it's interesting that they choose some of the same places they like to be whether I'm home or not. Like, they both like to be right at the top of the steps so they can see into my bedroom, the computer room and the front door downstairs, but while Boo always chose his crate to sleep in when I went to work, Yoshi ignores the crate preferring the bathroom floor wedging himself in the space in between the potty and the sink when I leave the house though if he's already settled in his doggie bed in the living room he'll usually stay there for awhile after I leave and at some point go up to the bathroom though sometimes I think he sleeps in the kitchen right by the back door since I almost never use the front door anymore to go in and out but use the back door instead since I've been parking my car out back for the last several years which include all the time I've had him. It took him a long time to figure out which front door was ours, that it was another entrance or exit to and from the house, and the first several times we used it together he seemed amazed that this door brought us back into the house that he knew. That was pretty weird since many many times he would watch me go out that door for the mail or to take the trash out... it wasn't until he came with me in or out that door that he seemed so amazed that it lead back into our house though he was unconcerned to go out of it and into a place that was not the backyard I assumed he'd expect.

Dogs seem to like the day and night being more ordered and the more orderly the happier they seem to be. I'm really happy though that both my previous and current dog adjusted just fine to varied meal times and my wake, sleep and work times. Maybe that has something to do with them having to do that since they were pups. They both seemed/seem to just know when it's time for them to eat or to go for our nightly walks... and think again if you believe you can ever skip a nightly walk no matter the weather or state of your health. The both knew/know the exact time that the walk is to begin. It always puzzled me how dogs can tell time so accurately even down to the minute even with the changes of light, dark, dusk or dawn outside.