Separation Anxiety

This is my dog, Ben.

Cute, isn't he? You don't have to answer that. We know he's cute. He won 1st place in Most Handsome at the local dog show, so that solidifies his social status. Ben has a few odd habits, including barking when someone cracks an egg, answering the phone when it rings (and by answering I mean running and nudging it off the receiver with his nose), and refusing to get up when we put his muzzle on.

Exhibit A:

Ben also has very bad separation anxiety. My family and I have concluded that this stems from being taken away from his mother by the breeder when he was still too young. He was also last of his litter left and spent his days alone in the breeders basement, wondering why all of his friends had gone. 

Now, you are probably asking yourself, how do I know a dog has separation anxiety? And no, we didn't take him to the doggy shrink or anything. He just has all the tell-tale signs of someone who doesn't like to be left alone. When we leave the house, he howls in pain like someone has just stabbed him. When he thinks he is alone he does the same thing. Worst of all, when one or more of my family leaves the house and doesn't come home for a night or a few days, he really goes crazy. This especially applies to my grandparents, who he has attached himself to the most.

What does this have to do with anything? Well, my family is currently gone to Niagara Falls for a few days, leaving me and Ben alone at home. PARTY! Not really. More like Stephanie not being able to sleep because Ben refuses to give up the idea that Mommy and Daddy are gonna walk through the door any minute and he can't sleep otherwise he might miss their homecoming. Last night he alternated between laying on my floor, to the middle step of our flight of stairs (where he can see outside the front window), to the front door, to the hardwood floor in front of the front door, to my grandparents room, and repeat that for about three hours. Also include barking at every little noise that might be them returning and squeaking incessantly. Finally he let up around 3:00am and I could actually fall asleep. I doubt he fell asleep though because this has been his state of existence all day:

Exhibit B:

That would be Ben sleeping on my bed like a human (another weird habit). It's hard to be mad at him because I know that none of it is his fault, but I am still hoping I might get to bed earlier than 3am tonight.

Do you have any stories about your pets? Or just cute pictures. I'll take cute pictures.