OK. We Know Who Counts in This House

Never mind, said Hachiko each day. 

Here I wait, for my friend who’s late. 

I will stay, just to walk beside you for one more day.

 ~ Jess C. Scott

DH went on a trip for a few days so Zee and I had LOADS of together time. And we had a good time. She took at least one nap in my lap (usually she is not much of a lap-sitter). We took loads of walks. She joined me running errands. She was left home alone a couple of times and she did very well - no chewing and no "presents." In sum, we worked and played and bonded.

Still, much like when the children were little and DH was away for work, she did the "happy dance" when he arrived home. Unlike the children, the dance continued for about the next hour or two. She would run to him and then run to me as if to say, "he's home...really...he's home!"

<Sigh>

It continued the next morning. I am the early one and got up to make coffee and breakfast. Zelda came downstairs with me, looked around, and returned to her "guard post" outside the bedroom door. She only returned for a walk and breakfast when DH rose and wandered downstairs.

She was supposed to be my dog.

I "talked" DH into a new dog after we lost Scruffy and Paddy. I visited all the online dog rescue sites. I visited the pound. I picked her.

Still, she is his dog. She tolerates me.

We walked her the evening of his return (he had really just walked in the door and put down his keys). She walked a with a little more bounce. And she stalled, extending what should have only been a 3 block walk to over a mile - down to the park and back - in the dark.

Maybe that is part of it. She is less afraid of the dark when he is home. That I understand.