My dog will be super sad when I go back to school

I got a dog last year, a beautiful Havanese, super gentle and fluffy puppy named Chewie. When she arrived home, my parents were both working and I was at school, so she got used to spending the day by herself, and just like any other dog, she was super happy when we all got back home in the evenings.

Now a few months later we all got stuck home and the only one really happy about that situation was Chewie because she would feel our presence every day. And not only that, she has become such an important part of our life, we go for walks with her at least once or twice a day, we play with her in the garden, she sits on the sofa while one of us works or watches TV.

Unless you are retired and stay home all day long, most dogs or pets in general live a rather lonely life during the day. But Covid has changed that for the better.

In fact I read that there had been a tremendous increase in pet adoptions because families want to spend time home and get entertained, and a pet is a good way to feel happy.

But the question is what is going to happen once we go back to school or to work? Most of these pets will feel bizarre for some time, they will feel disoriented and I have heard that they can even get depressed and very sad. I fear that Chewie will go ballistic when we all leave. I also fear that many families might return their dog to a shelter place because they don’t have time to entertain them anymore. And that would be a truly horrendous situation.

I want to make sure that I continue to spend plenty of time with Chewie, and play with her every day when I come back from school. She will need it, and frankly, I will as well.