Requested by: @Echo51311
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[⭒2nd person POV⭒]
The critters all started to notice something about DogDay. Whenever you or Dorothy would leave he would pace around the house or just wait by the door or window. They didn't really notice it at first but it had been getting worse and Bubba had grouped them all together one day to talk about this.
"He's doing it again." Bobby said softly as she watched DogDay walking around the living room, turning his head towards the window or door every so often.
"And that's why we're all here now." Bubba answered, "He's been doing this a lot more lately. The pacing and things like that."
"But didn't he do that stuff before?" Hoppy asked, tilting her head at Bubba, who nodded, "Yes, but he didn't do it all as much as he does now. I think he might have some separation anxiety?" Bubba said as he rubbed his neck.
"I guess that could be the problem." Crafty looked from DogDay to Bubba. They were all worried about him, he would seem jittery and nervous the whole time when Dot or you were gone and it seemed to be getting worse. "But how do we help?" she turned her attention back to Bubba and he hummed in thought for a moment.
"Let's talk to momma about it and maybe she can help?" He shrugged and the other nodded along, "That sounds good." Kickin said, "But what do we do until momma or Dot get home? It'll still be for a few hours."
"Hmm, let's see if we can distract him maybe?" Picky spoke up.
"How?" Bobby tilted her head at Picky.
"Maybe with a game?" She suggested with a shrug.
"Like a board game?" Crafty asked, Picky nodded and Crafty jumped down from her chair and ran off to grab a game.
"Well now that that's getting taken care of. Let's go get DogDay."
They all then worked to get DogDay settled down and they played monopoly until Dorothy came home. Once she did, DogDay ran to the door and hugged her leg.
"Hi Dottie!" He said, as his tail wagged behind him. She chuckled and patted him on the head, "Hey bud." She moved to take her shoes off while throwing her bag next to the stairs, "You all playing a game?" She asked looking up at the other critters sitting around the board.
"Yeah! You wanna join?" Hoppy asked, looking up at her as she walked to the couch with DogDay following behind her.
"Yeah sure," She sat down on the couch and DogDay jumped up next to her. Hoppy handed her the pieces needed and gave DogDay his and they started up the game again. And about an hour later you came home.
"I'm home!" You shouted, walking up the stairs from the garage and setting your bag down next to Dorothy's,
"Hi momma!" DogDay shouted back waving at you from the couch as you walked over.
"What're you guys playing?" You asked, kneeling down next to CatNap who was laying on the ground next to the group and petting his back.
"Monopoly," Bubba answered, picking up one of the orange chance cards and immediately frowning from the effect on the card. You chuckled to yourself sitting down next to CatNap, continuing to pet him. "You wanna play?" Bubba asked as you shook your head.
"Oh no I'm alright. Thank you though." Bubba nodded and they all turned back to the game. After a long game, with Picky being the winner, much to Bubba's confusion, you decided that it was getting late and that everyone should start getting ready for bed.
"Oh right! We wanted to talk to you about something momma." Bubba said tugging on your pant leg.
"Oh, um, alright? What is it?" You tilted your head at him, kneeling down next to him.
"Uh, DogDay can't hear though.." He whispered this in your ear and you raised a brow at him. "It's not bad! But I think it would be better if he didn't hear, at least not right now." You sighed and nodded,
"Alright alright. Uh, hey Dot?"
"Yeah?" She looked up from the game box where she, Hoppy and Bobby were cleaning up the pieces.
"Can you get DogDay ready for bed please? The others need to tell me something real quick." You looked from Bubba to her and she blinked at you processing the request before shrugging,
"Yeah sure. Hey DD! You're stuck with me tonight." She went over and picked up DogDay as he giggled, "No! Not that!" He said through his laughter.
Dorothy then took him upstairs and you turned back to the other critters.
"Ok, so what did you all want to tell me?"
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They all had sat you at the table and Bubba started to explain, "Well, we've seen that DogDay will get really nervous and jittery when you or Dot aren't around."
"He paces all the time and doesn't want to play with us a lot anymore!" Hoppy exclaimed, throwing her hands up into the air.
"I see, has this been going on for a while now?" You asked with a worried tone, tapping your fingers on the table in a rhythmic fashion.
"Yeah but he's been getting more nervous lately." Bobby said, wrapping her hands together.
"Hmm, this reminds me of when dogs get separation anxiety." You mumbled, leaning back in your chair.
"That's what I was thinking." Bubba said, rubbing his chin with one hand (or stub, whatever you call elephant hands-).
"But what do we do about it?" Kickin asked. You tapped your foot against the ground.
"We could talk to him about it? That might help." You sat forward again, "I might see if I can get shorter hours. I feel like they already overwork me, I don't think I need to be there all those hours." You chewed on your cheek and mumbled that last sentence to yourself.
"Tomorrow?" Picky asked,
"Hm?" You turned your gaze back to her, "Sorry what was that hun?"
"Should we talk to him about it tomorrow?" She asked again and you nodded.
"That could work, Dot doesn't have plans for Saturday, so she'll be here." You answered and Bubba nodded,
"Ok, we'll talk to him about it tomorrow then."
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The next day the critters were all playing outside together. You had told Dorothy the plan about what you all were going to do and she had agreed to not say anything about it. So it was a fairly quiet day for all the critters. Once you got home you all met together in the kitchen.
"So DogDay, there's something we need to talk to you about. It's nothing bad, promise, just something we're all a bit concerned about." You started as DogDay's ears twitched and he nodded slightly,
"Ok, what is it?"
"We think you have separation anxiety-" Kickin blurted out, earning him a punch on the shoulder from Hoppy which cut him off abruptly. Kickin glared at her and she returned it while DogDay tilted his head,
"What's that?" he asked and you sighed,
"Ok let's try this again," you muttered, rubbing the space between your brows, "DogDay, do you get nervous when me, Dot, or both of us are out of the house?" He thought about that for a moment before nodding slightly,
"Yeah. Is that bad?" He nodded and fidgeted with his paws in front of him and you shook your head slightly,
"Not entirely, but does it get bad?" He nodded again and you sighed softly, "Alright, we think you might have separation anxiety, hun. And we're going to try and help." You patted his head and he nodded,
"Can you? Because sometimes it gets really bad and I think that maybe something bad happened and then I feel like I might throw up." He looked down at the table then back up at you. You didn't know that they could feel like throwing up since they were a lot like toys but then again then could eat soâ€".
"Of course we can, sweetie. It'll most likely take time but we'll help the best we can." You booped his nose making him giggle and he nodded along.
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The thing you thought might help was if you gradually started leaving him for longer periods of time, obviously Dorothy had school and she couldn't miss a few hours so it was mainly you being the subject of this test. You had gotten some leeway on work and after a while DogDay got better at handling you and Dot being away for your normal hours (obviously this took a while but I don't want to write all that-).
After a few months he seemed to be handling it a lot better. There were still days where he would feel nervous about you and/or Dot being gone for a while but he learned to handle it better. Guess all it takes is time.
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A/N: Hope this chapter turned out alright! I was writing this on not too much sleep and I wasn't sure how to end it.
But I hope you enjoyed and have a good day/afternoon/night!