Missing your pet during the workday: small ways to keep them close
The first week back in an office, or the first week of long days at a desk at home, can feel like leaving someone behind. Your dog or cat is fine. You are the one checking the clock. Here are seven small things that help, from the ones that take a minute to the ones that take a little planning.
1. Put them on your lock screen
The simplest one. A photo of your pet on your phone’s lock screen means you see them every time you check the time, which for most of us is often. Pick a photo where they are looking at the camera. Our guide to better photos of your dog or cat helps you take one.
2. Make them your wallpaper
The same idea on the computer. The trouble is that wallpaper is hidden behind windows for most of the day, so you see it for a second at nine and a second at five. It still counts. Choose a photo with your pet to one side, so the icons do not sit on their face.
3. Add a photo widget
Both phones and most computers can show a small frame on the home screen that cycles through an album. Make an album of just your pet and point the widget at it. A new photo of them every hour is a small, regular lift, and it costs nothing.
4. Keep a desktop pet of them
A desktop pet is a small animated character that lives on your screen while you work. The newest kind is drawn from photos of your own animal, so the one walking along the bottom of your tabs looks like the one asleep on your sofa.
It is different from a photo. A photo is a memory of them. A desktop pet moves at its own pace while you move at yours, sits down when you stop, and naps when you leave. For a lot of people that is the part they miss most: not how the pet looks, but having them around.
We make one, Pawsome Family, so weigh what we say about it accordingly. There are others, and how to turn your own dog or cat into a desktop pet lists five.
5. Get a pet camera
A pet camera lets you look in on them from your phone. The better ones let you talk through a speaker, and some toss a treat. Two things to know before you buy:
- You will look more than you expect, for the first week. Then you will look when you need to, which is the point.
- Not every pet likes the voice. Some dogs are confused by a voice with no person attached and go looking for you. Try it a few times while someone is home and see how yours takes it.
6. Ask for a midday photo
If someone is home, or your pet goes to daycare or a walker, ask for one photo a day. Most walkers and daycares will send one without being asked, and a quick request gets it from the rest. A photo of your dog mid-run at noon does more than any amount of wondering.
7. Go home for lunch, sometimes
If you are close enough, a lunch walk with your dog once or twice a week changes the shape of the day for both of you. If you are not, the same hour spent on a walk of your own helps too. You get back to your desk, and the afternoon goes faster.
What helps most
Different things help different people. A photo is enough for some. For others, it is the pet camera at eleven, when the house is quiet and you want to know they are asleep in the sun. Pick one or two, not all seven, and give them a week.
Your own pet, in your tabs
Pawsome Family turns 1 to 5 photos of your dog or cat into a small animated pet that walks, sits, and naps along the bottom of your Chrome tabs. They look like your pet, not like a breed, and they stay out of the way when you need them to. See the example dachshund.
One pet is free for 30 days, with no card needed.