How do I explain to my dog that he's only in the kennel for a few nights?

[hedgehog]

Here's the situation:

Guinness came to us as a puppy and grew up as the Beta Dog to Jack. Jack was a large mixed breed hound, 75 pounds. Guinness is a Beagle/German Shepherd, about 50 lbs. Both dogs were neutered males.

Guinness always followed Jack around and let Jack bark at visitors at the door while he barked from the next room. When Jack went for a walk or ride in the car, Guinness had to go along , too. The only other time we boarded Guinness, he shared a pen with Jack.

Jack died suddenly from an embolism. We took Guinness down to the local pound to check out some new dogs, but he was frightened to be there and growled and snapped at the other dogs. I think he feels exposed without having a pack mate to protect him, but the catch 22 is that I don't see any way to introduce a larged buddy to protect him without scaring him. We're hoping to adopt a puppy to keep him company. (And to keep us company; we liked having two dogs around)

We took Guinness to a boarding kennel for the week-end while we visited family. He was trembling when we dropped him off. The owner is a dog person, and she reported that he was upset the first night but then barked along with the other dogs.

Guinness was very happy to see us, but he cried in the car all the way home until he saw he was home. He settled down but started crying a little when my daughter visited. She moved out before we got Guinness, but she was Jack's favorite and she always walks the dogs when she visits.

We normally only board the dogs for a few days at Christmas, but I'd like to make this less traumatic for Guinness. With luck, he'll have a buddy with him the next time.