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My wife and I have two dogs, a 1-year-old female and a 2-year-old male. We are planning a road trip for July that will take three weeks. We would really like to bring the dogs with us, but the logistics might not allow it. We have the option to leave the dogs home with my sister-in-law, who lives with us.

However, we are worried that if we leave for that long the dogs will feel like we abandoned them, which might have a lasting impact on our relationship with them. We're especially concerned about our male dog. We got him a few months ago, and we feel like he already has a lot of separation anxiety, probably related to being separated from his original owner.

Will the dogs be able to cope emotionally to us being gone for so long? Will there be long-term effects, or will they just freak out when we get back and then it will be back to normal?

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  • My parents in law had and have multiple dogs (one at a time) they left multiple times at home for 2 weeks with the other family members (adult son and uncle living in the same house, other floors). As I know, there never were problems. The dogs in general are able to go to each family members rooms itself and stays for example for first lunch with them, second lunch with the son ^^ All dogs slept in front of the sleeping room of my parents in law. For me the proove, they knew to whom they belong :)
    – Allerleirauh
    Commented Apr 10, 2022 at 6:12

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This is a very interesting question and it hit home for me as well because I travel quite a bit for work. I did some digging and found an article with input from a veterinarian.

In short, most dogs are ok away from their owner for 2-4 weeks, and it does not damage the relationship.

Here is the article, it has some great insights! https://www.purewow.com/family/how-long-can-you-board-dog

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