HOW DO THEY DO IT?
Dogs have an incredible sense of smell and can hear 60x what we can. Believe it or not we humans stink, or have a distinct unique smell that our dog loves when we are home. When we leave, over the hours we are gone, this smell gets less smelly … it starts to dissipate at the same rate or at a certain time every day. Our dogs can associate the smells, or lack of, to their biological clocks (like how they know it’s time to eat) so when the “smell” level gets to a certain point each day we will be home.
They may also recognize the noise of your car engine as it’s pulling in the driveway, they can hear the doors open and close, your footsteps coming up the walk. Put the them together and you have a pattern they can follow.
Our dogs are most likely also picking up on our body language and subtle cues we don’t even know we are giving. For example about an hour before my husband & kids get home I start preparing dinner, straightening the house, etc … they pick up on those subtle cues, especially if it’s a routine. My dogs will start to get antsy and excited because they know the family will be home soon!
