A secret life of pets – that’s how you can call what happens when you close your door and leave. Are you also interested in what happens after that? There is one easy answer: They sleep. But is that really the case?
What do our furry friends actually do when we’re not home? Are they bored and do they wait sadly in their kennels until they can hear us coming back? We know it’s not always like that and not only thanks to modern technologies, home cameras and computers and sometimes, we are quite surprised. Especially when we come back and find out that our furniture has been moved and the whole interior is “improved”. Guilty expressions then say everything.
This is also the topic of my favourite film called “The Secret Life of Pets” that actually inspired me to write this article. As a proper American blockbuster, the film has a thrilling plot about a lost and found dog, terrier Max, and his friends. However, besides various crazy things the main characters do at home, it does not tell us much about the real secret life of our pets.
Nevertheless, the film started an interesting discussion. We started thinking again if all romping the results of which we get to see later is really so funny or if it is a manifestation of separation anxiety. Not long after the film was in cinemas, a YouTube video called “What my dog does when I leave” went viral. It had one million views in a moment.
The video received a lot of attention probably because of our interest in the secret life of our companions and which was even supported in us by the mentioned new film. A three-minute-long recording is from a GoPro cam which is attached to the dog’s body and it shows how the dog stays in his master’s bed and waits for his arrival after a while of running around the house and howling.
The discussion which followed as a reply to it mainly abroad was maybe a bit too emotional and it was all about the question if it is good to let dogs home alone and how to proceed when an animal reacts badly to a short-term (You can read about separation anxiety and how to react to it in a separate article.)
Also, a few studies from abroad dealt with the topic of what pets do when they are home alone. They confirmed that the daily routine of your pet partially corresponds to its natural cycle it would have as a best of prey in wild nature. An animal needs some activity it can do while waiting for its master instead of hunting (our pets like transplanting plants and teasing paper :)). After hunting, there’s a calm stage, i.e. sleeping.
It looks like our pets’ life will always be at least a partial secret. And it is really a topic which raises a lot of other questions, is passionately discussed and people get emotional about it. The thought I got after this film and viral video is that instead of becoming detectives we should become the best pet owners ever and try to spend as much time with our loves as possible. And that’s why we got them in the first place.
For the end, to make it funny, I picked a few photos that capture our furry friends when “hunting” :).
Food is one of the most basic needs of dogs as well as humans. How to make sure your dog has enough necessary nutrients? And if you opt for dry food, what options are there? And what to consider when choosing?
Most of us care about the contents of the packages with dry food but have you ever thought about the packaging itself? Do you know what is used for the packaging of dry food, how different are individual materials and what innovations can you find on...
You can recognize a Burmese cat mainly because of its silky fur and beautiful, deep gloss with typical signs of a colour that is not present in any other breed. Besides its glossy fur, this breed has also a great nature which makes these cats great...
Dachshunds, from smooth-haired, wire-haired and short-haired to long-haired, are popular companions and not only in the Czech Republic but in the world as well. And they are great companions! Even though they are quite stubborn.
Cats may bite from many reasons and if you would like to make this undesirable behaviour stop, it is important to understand why they do it. The fundamental thing is to eliminate the cause but we can also help with other things.
Do you like baking and you have noone to bake for? You probably haven’t thought about your dog companion. However, you might also make some tasty and healthy goodies at home for it as well. I’ll tell you how.
Only a few per cent of loss of water may cause serious problems for your dog. However, we often don’t pay attention to its drinking and underestimate its importance. When there is a risk of dehydration, do you know how to avoid it or recognize it?
Dry food with larger proportion of meat might not only have positive effects on dogs’ organisms, when processed well, it will also make happy even the pickiest gourmets that usually don’t like dry food. Thanks to a holistic approach, you’ll keep the...
The days are getting warmer and our dogs and cat starts to shed. This has a negative impact on your household with all the hair. Have you found a way to reduce the contamination with hair at least a bit and speed up the process of shedding?...
Do you also barely resist the temptation to cuddle a dog, no matter if yours or someone else’s? It’s no surprise, a new study shows that such contact with a dog is like a drug for human brain.
There are plenty of reasons why we get flat-faced dogs. For their specific appearance, great nature, loyal love to their owner... And maybe also for their need of constant attention that makes us feel well. The flat-faced dogs are simply cute....
Brown rats, mice and hamsters as well as other rodents are quite small pets and sometimes, we don’t even think about dealing with them being overweight. However, if we like our pets and we want them to be well and stay with us as long as possible,...
