Our puppy is 8 weeks old and currently resides just up the street with the mama dog. We've been visiting him on a daily basis (sometimes I go for extra visits on my own) for a couple of weeks now. Yesterday he came and visited our house (the inside for 15ish minutes) and it went okay--he was shaking a little bit at the end, but he's prone to doing that.
Today he came over and explored our backyard. It started out GREAT! He scampered and hopped all over the place and was happy to drink a little bit of water and sniff everywhere. He even attacked a mini tennisball a few times (so cute!). My children were present but did a good job at (mostly) leaving him alone and being quiet and gentle. After about 15-20 minutes he started retreating and parking himself right in between my feet. As soon as I saw this behavior starting, I sent my children to play on the other side of the yard. They did this immediately and left Skippy alone with me. At that point he was totally flat on his tummy with his front paws stretched out and his back paws stretched out--it's as though he was trying to get as low as possible. I've never seen him do that before.
I sat down on the grass with my legs out in a v shape and he immediately burrowed right into the v with his head pointing toward me. I gently pet him and talked softly to him, but he just seemed so sad. I scooted back to see his face and he gave me a look and then immediately scooted himself right back into me.
Needless to say, I scooped him up and carried him back up the street. He was totally fine once he was back on familiar ground. 100% back to normal--enjoyed sniffing around my children, etc.
What can I do to make visits easier for him? I brought him a blanket yesterday so that he can get used to it over there and then bring it here with him when he comes home for good. I've never had a dog before, so I'm a total novice...but I'm feeling so bad for Skippy.