Sharing a bond with an animal is a special thing. Although we may not always realize it, our pets love us just as much as we love them. Like humans, they have rich and complex emotions, but they express them in different ways. For the owner of Zeus the German Shepherd, she realized this one day after she picked him up from doggy daycare.

Zeus’ owner has been a near-constant presence in his life.

But even dogs need to learn a little independence. After pretty much taking Zeus everywhere she goes, his owner decided that she had to prepare Zeus for times when she wouldn’t be around.

Zeus’ owner is definitely going to be going on vacations in the future, or simply traveling places Zeus isn’t allowed. So the kind thing to do is to help prepare him for their temporary separations by practicing beforehand. It’s pretty loving to help your dog in this way.

She brought Zeus to doggy daycare to practice being independent.

For their first trial separation, Zeus’ mom decided that a weekend would be long enough time apart. So, she brought Zeus to doggy daycare to begin to teach him that he would be okay without her for a little bit.

Zeus couldn’t handle his feelings when they reunited.

When Zeus’ mom went to pick him up after the weekend was over, she could not believe her sweet pup’s reaction. This gentle dog was so overjoyed to see her again that he collapsed into her arms and cried.

Zeus’ mom let him just stay there for a minute and cuddled him to comfort him.

Although some dogs may be more independent than this, many are not.

In fact, Zeus’ behavior is part of a pretty common pet personality type.

Sometimes called “Velcro Dogs“, these pups stick to their favorite human exactly like the adhesive material. These dogs will follow their owners around all day and often refuse to leave their side. While this may seem annoying to some people, it’s really just a sign of their deep love for their owners and indicates their hereditary pack mentality.

The phenomenon of Velcro Dogs is normally shared among smaller lapdogs, like Shi Tzus or Malteses.

That’s because these dogs are bred to be extremely dependent on humans. That being said, Zeus can also fit into this category, because German Shepherds are renowned for their extreme loyalty to their humans, their ‘pack.’

This experience showed Zeus’ owner something important.

Zeus’ owner says watching her dog react like this became an emotional experience for her too. She says:

“My heart broke for him. You could see the stress release from his body to be back with his mom.”

She realized that although they have to occasionally be separated at some points in time, Zeus really needs her around. He is a devoted doggie who just needs his mom.

And she made an important point about the care and attention that our dogs deserve.

Although Zeus’ mom always cared for animals and treated her pup well, she thinks this experience highlights something important about animal rights. She says:

“How can people say that dogs don’t have feelings? Or that they don’t matter. Or that abusing a dog or leaving them outside doesn’t matter. You can see how even a day away from his pack matters to him.”

She’s right. Animals deserve so much time and care and deserve all the love we can give. Zeus’ experience demonstrates how rich and complex animal emotions are. Our German Shepherds love us so much, and we are all lucky to share special bonds with these animals.

To watch Zeus’ reaction to seeing his mom, check out the video below.

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Source: Puppy Leaks, PetBacker, Zeus Howard