My dog always can sense when I’m about to leave on an errand. He starts pacing around, comes up to me for attention and a pat on the head. I always tell him where I’m going (“I’m going to the store. I’m going to the bank.”) and that I’ll be home soon. He’s very calm and mellow. He seems to accept my comings and goings, but he’s always deliriously happy when I get home. Do any of you reassure your pets when you leave? I know he doesn’t understand all of my words, but I talk to him in a calm, reassuring tone of voice when I’m about to leave, and this seems to make him happy.
Of course, and I tell them where I am going or what I need to do and when I will be back. I think they know what simple words like office mean.
If they’re in the room, and especially if they’re looking at me. I try to either say, “I’ll be right back” for if I’m just going out to the car or something else quick, or “Bye, bye. Be good” for if I’m going to be gone awhile.
I have no clue if they’ve picked up the difference.
I do. I talk to my critters all the time. I know they don’t really understand the words, but I think in some small way they do understand the emotion behind them.
I always tell my cat to “be good” right before I leave for work. A while back I was between cats, one had just passed away and I had yet to get my current cat. I started to tell recently deceased cat to “be good”, and then had to go back inside to compose myself before I left again. 
My dog was very clever. He was a collie/shepherd mix. When we got all new furniture the rule became, “dogs can’t climb on the furniture.”
Being smart the dog quickly learned not to climb on the beds and couches etc. But my mum seemed to notice the dog was getting way to happy when we left. When my mum came home she could tell the furniture had been sat on.
She tried several things to catch the dog in the act, but we couldn’t do this. Till we realized that the dog was listening for the car. So my mum got in the car backed it out of the drive and drove it down the block. Then she snuck back with a squirt gun and sure enough the dog was on the bed taking a nap.
Then right through the open screen window. ZAP with the squirt gun. Mr dog was cured with one zap of water.
Of course we do. To do otherwise would be impolite.
“Be good. We’ll be back. If not, avenge our deaths.”
A friend told me that a dog trainer told them not to talk to their dog before they left the house and to just leave, the reason being that the dog doesn’t know the reason for the attention and just gets wound up and then that much more anxious when the attention gets suddenly cut off and they leave right in the middle of all the excitement. To us we’re just saying goodbye and trying to give her some love before we go, but what the dog hears is “Blah blah Marcy blah blah blah Marcy blah blah blah blah blah Marcy Marcy MARCY MARCY MARCY!!! <slam, drive>.”
Right after we got our first 2 dogs, my boyfriend was watching an episode of The Family Guy. Something in the episode had to do with Stewie and his sexy parties. Later that day, we were both leaving the house and my boyfriend told the girls, “We’ll be right back. No sexy pah-ties”. It stuck. Ever since then, we tell all 3 dogs “Be good, no sexy pah-ties”.
Absolutely. My dog loves going so much that if I put socks on or brush my teeth she goes mental.
She rarely stays home alone, but if she is going to stay home I have to say “Dolly’s going to stay here” and she calms down and gives me the saddest doggy eyes EVAR to make me think twice about ever leaving the house again.
But yeah, she’s told to “stay here” and when I come home “what a good girl you stayed home all alone!”
I did that too. After our last ferret died, there were a couple days that passed before we could get some time to take down the cage and clean it out fully (for eventual donation), and we found ourselves looking at the cage and saying hi on the way in from work. I said forget making dinner, ordered in, and spent the time that night scrubbing it down and storing it in the basement, so at least we wouldn’t see the empty cage.
Now we own two rabbits, and I always say, “Be good, bunnies,” on my way out the door. I talk to them on the way in, too, but that’s more so I don’t spook them - sometimes when you come in they might startle and panic a bit if they think it’s not us, so I let them hear my voice so they know it’s not a stranger/predator animal.
I always say something like “I’m off to earn your daily bread. Guard the house and try not to kill each other.” to my six dogs.
StG
My husband tells our dogs “We’re going away; you two guard!”. I tell the cat that she can bite anyone who breaks in. I don’t know how much good the admonishment “Guard!” does; we have Basset Hounds.
Yeah, those are some vicious dogs ya got there! 
I alternate telling the two cats that one of them is in charge. They just look at me like I’m nuts.
I always tell my guinea pig that I’ll be back in a bit and tell him if I’ll be returning with carrots or hay or something else that will interest him.
No. They’re cats, they don’t give a shit.
Yep. I usually tell the cats “I’m off to work, be back later. Don’t destroy the house.”
It’s worked so far.
I regularly feel I should explain to my cat why I leave for most of the day most days of the week; after all, she wants a roof over her head as much as I want one over mine. I have a highly domesticated cat.
Blackjack knows if I’m going somewhere. He always wants to come with me, but if I tell him he can’t he knows he’ll have to stay. He understands English perfectly well. I’ll tell him where I’ll tell him where I’m going and when I’ll be back. He relaxes a little if I tell him I’ll be back in a few minutes. But he knows if I pack up the computer, I’ll be away for a while.
Sure they give a shit. And if you don’t make with the tuna juice, they’re gonna give a shit on the carpeting.
Our cats always miss people. When my husband’s at work, the cats sometimes complain, and sometimes just take the opportunity to sleep on his bed. When I’m gone, my husband reports that they all bitch constantly. When our daughter visits, the cats enjoy her company, and then when she leaves, they mope for a while.