Dog welcomes man home after 8 months

It's not love, dogs do not feel love, what you think is love is just them behaving as a leader or follower of a pack. Most dogs are ill-raised to believe they are the pack leaders which puts a lot of stress on them as they feel responsible for the owner/owner's family. These are the dogs who are the MOST excited when their owners return, and also the most stressed when the owners go somewhere, because they feel responsible for them.

Sorry people but it's not love, it's instinct related to pack behavior. When dogs come up and lick your face, that is nothing more than them dominating you. Sorry. It's true. When you see animals left outside stores, in cars, etc, looking very stressed while waiting for the owners, again, that is a dog who believes he is the leader of the pack because the owner didn't raise it with dominance,and it's stressed because it can't watch over it's dependent.

I'm not saying it's wrong when dogs get super excited to see you, I am just saying it is NOT a measurement of "love", but rather it is pack behavior, specifically that of dominance. My huskies used to act like this when I returned after a year of not seeing them, and they also used to jump on me sometimes too, I never gained dominance so they believed they were the leaders, well one was the leader of the other,but I was below that one too, so whenever I left the house they waited by the gate for me. I know someone who so spoiled her dog and never asserted herself with the dog that the poor dog became so neurotic worrying about his "child" that the woman even had to take the dog into the shower with her because the separation caused him so much anxiety. Some would say that the dog was so bonded and loved her, but the truth was, he was simply behaving as the pack leader to an extreme that the woman helped create. When she did have to leave the dog, he was so "excited" to see her again but it was actually more relief that he could have her in his sights again, as he was raised to feel she was his responsibility.

Anyway, I know it looks like love, but it's really more instinct/pack behavior than any complex human emotion like love.