Why is my dog so clingy after boarding?

A dog that has spent days in a new building, with new handlers and a playgroup of 7 to 10 dogs, comes home to the one thing that did not change: you. Staying within arm's reach for a day or two is a reasonable response. Overnight guests at Dogtown join playgroups by day and sleep in a suite with 24/7 monitoring, so the stay is busy and social, but it is still a different place on a different clock, and a dog checks that its own world is still where it left it.

The Merck Veterinary Manual draws a useful line here. Dogs that follow family members closely are, it says, at no greater risk of separation anxiety than dogs that do not. What defines separation distress is what happens in your absence: the manual lists destruction aimed at exits, distress vocalizing, house soiling, pacing and restlessness, and notes the signs usually begin within 15 to 30 minutes of a departure. A dog that shadows you at home and naps once you have gone is attached, not anxious.

The aim is not to push your dog away. It is to show it, over an ordinary week, that you come and go and nothing bad follows. Keep greetings warm and brief. Put a bed or mat in the room where you spend most of your time, so being near you does not have to mean being on you, and reward your dog for lying there. A chew or a lick mat on that bed gives it something to do besides watch your every move.

Then build short spells apart. Close a door for a minute while you fold laundry, step out to the car, come back without ceremony. The ASPCA's advice for mild cases fits here: hand over a food puzzle as you leave and pick it up when you return, so your going predicts something good. It also says plainly not to scold an anxious dog, because the behavior is not disobedience or spite. Lengthen absences only while your dog stays relaxed.

Clinginess that appears after every stay is worth planning around. Dogs settle faster in a place they already know, so a few daycare days in the weeks before a trip, at $42 for a full day or $33 for a half, turn the building and the handlers into familiar things. A single night at $78 shows how your dog eats and sleeps away from home before a longer trip. Tell the front desk what you saw last time, at drop-off or in a message through the Dogtown app.

Small comforts carry over too. Pack one blanket or piece of clothing that smells of home along with the pre-portioned food, and consider the Dogtown Deluxe bundle at $15 a night, which adds a gourmet stuffed Kong or Toppl and a daily treadmill or enrichment session to give a busy mind some work. If the Pup Van brings your dog home, $10 each way in Rockport, Gloucester, Essex and Manchester-by-the-Sea, plan a quiet evening in once it arrives. The overnight stays page sets out what the $78 nightly rate includes.