Woman Shows How She Tricks 'Super Clingy' Dog Into Thinking She Hasn't Left

A dog owner has revealed the ingenious way she's now able to get some space from her "super clingy" dachshund.

Olivia, from Chester in the U.K., loves her 14-year-old smooth-haired miniature dachshund, Hero. "I got him when I was 8 years old, as I was an only child and needed some company. All he has ever known is life with my family," she told Newsweek.

"As a puppy he loved being dressed up and treated like royalty and to this day he still does. He is extra lovable and just wants to be with me all the time."

The bond between dog and owner is a special one. A 2015 study published in the academic journal Science found that dog owners and their pets experience the same surge of oxytocin when they look into each other's eyes as mothers do when gazing at their children.

This surge has long been identified as a key driver in the maternal instinct found in mothers and the bond between them and their children. Scientists reached this conclusion after an experiment that involved watching 30 dog owners play with their four-legged friends for half an hour.

Urine tests before and after the half-hour sessions identified elevated levels of oxytocin in those people and dogs who stared at each other most. By contrast, a similar experiment involving hand-raised wolves recorded no oxytocin increases.

The bond between Olivia and Hero is similarly strong. In fact, it can occasionally be a little too strong. "Hero is a super clingy dog," Olivia said. "He is with me or a family member constantly all day every day. We have a dog sling that gets taken everywhere with us and we even see if we can sneak him into places that don't allow dogs inside."

While this is mostly fine, Olivia said there are occasions when she and the rest of the family need to temporarily part ways with their beloved pet pooch and that hasn't always gone to plan.

"We have tried a variety of methods to nip out and leave Hero alone, however they weren't successful and he would leave a lovely 'present' for us in return for when we got back," she said.

That all appears to have changed though, after Olivia hit upon an inspired way to placate Hero while she heads out to the store. In a video posted to TikTok under the handle xx.herothesausage.xx, she showed she was able to trick him into thinking he was by her side.

"I needed to nip out and run some errands, so I came up with the idea to trick Hero into thinking I had never left by stuffing some pillows under the duvet, molding them to fit my shape," Olivia said. "I found a costume wig which resembled my hair and sprayed my perfume on the sheets. I lay with him for 5 mins until he fell asleep and sneaked out of the house."

Hero fell for it, hook, line and sinker."On my return back I crept into my bedroom and he was still snoozing away," she said. "Success." Eager to celebrate the success, she posted a clip of the entire scheme to social media.

"I'm going to have to try this," one fellow clingy dog owner commented, with another TikToker joking that they "used to do it all the time as a teenager."

But while Olivia was pleased to slip away, she plans on keeping Hero close by for the foreseeable future. "As he is now an older dog his favorite things to do are sleeping, eating, dressing up and cuddles from me and especially my boyfriend," she said. "Hero has heart failure alongside fluid retention within his lungs, these are managed with medication, so every day is a blessing with him."

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