I’m part of a pack.  It has 3 members.  Mummy (Chief Pack Leader), Daddy (2 i/c) and me.  When one of my pack goes away, it’s confusing.  Where is my pack member?  Are they coming back?  WHAT IS GOING ON?

When I was small, Mummy was always around, but Daddy (who is a teacher, and sometimes goes away on school trips) would disappear and that made me nervous.

Even though Mummy was still there, my pack was incomplete – I worried.  I sat by the door waiting for my Daddy. I jumped at car noises, I wouldn’t eat.  I didn’t like sleeping alone.

Recently, I’ve had a few more experiences of pack members going away for a while.  I think I’m getting used to it. Mummy went away to Milan to see her extended pack family two weekends ago and I was left with Daddy.  We did our usual things and whilst I did sit by the door on the first day, I got over myself.  Daddy is LOTS of fun.

Then, last weekend, both Mummy AND Daddy went away to a wedding.  They drafted in Granny and Grandpa to look after me.  Granny said I was a little despondent, but at least I had my own extended pack around to play with.

This weekend (!), Daddy is away with his school again.  Mummy makes sure we go out to the pet shop to let me buy a new squeaky toy when Daddy goes away. I LOVE the pet shop, so that was ok.  New toys!  She also buys me exciting foods, so I eat something, because it’s new.

All in all, I’ve calmed down about missing pack members – they always come back eventually, and we do lots of exciting things when it’s just two of us.  BOL!