The Wolfdog shows the remarkable link they have by barking at a new soldier at first until he recognizes the familiar scent.
Get a tissue for his reaction when he finally recognizes it’s his dad. When a member of the armed force is released, their absence is felt by the entire family.
Including the family dog.
So the husky malamute and timber wolf mix almost lost his mind when his father returned home for the holidays.
Devin Ekstrom of Northwood, New Hampshire, left for US Military Basic Training and came back ten months later.
Morgan, who was Ekstrom’s friend, made sure to record the reunion between him and his dog.
It would be emotional, she knew, and 2-year-old Indus did not let her down.
“When Indus realized it was him, his ‘dad’ was so delighted and taken aback by the love he showed him,” Morgan said. The rest of the family and I were crying.
The Husky can be seen in the video barking at the man wearing an army uniform and enormous boots. Indus is terrified by his father and doesn’t seem to recognise him in all this strange clothing.
Dad then bends to his knees to level with his dog, though. When they meet eye to eye, Indus knows his father right away.
Is that what you meant? Morgan queries Indus.
Indus sprints over to give his pop a hug. Gives him a great embrace and loads of kisses. Then he gets overly enthusiastic and has to dash about a little to let everyone know his dad is home.
He sprints back and forth for a while since he had to release all that joyful energy.
Then he heads straight back over to his father for some much more cuddles, hugs, and kisses. Indus is wiggling about and leaping up to hug his dad because he is so happy to see him.
The reunion between Ekstrom and Indus became well publicized and covered by multiple news outlets. People were simply in awe of the depth of love and emotion Indus had for his father.
“There’s no question that dogs have extremely specific memories,” says Marc Bekoff, author of “Why Dogs Hump and Bees Get Depressed,” in an interview with Pacific Standard. They are aware of specific people. That link between treatment, love, and love has a lot entwined in it.
Pacific Standard reports that dogs tend to have actually varied reactions to when their “person” comes home from deployment.
Some wildly run in circles, while others will climb or tackle their soldier. Indus handled both in this case.
Dogs often link human emotions—such as love, worry, and anger—with the scents, sounds, and looks of their owners.
“They basically evaluate this complex of feelings, which is in fact a person and that will trigger the emotion,” explains Stanley Coren, author of “The Knowledge of Dogs” and retired professor at the University of British Columbia.
When a carer leaves, dogs often experience a period of grief.
“It’s a loss—an unpredictable loss—since the person cannot say, ‘I will be back in two weeks,'” Bekoff says. Regarding when a dog enters that state of wondering if someone is coming back, not much is known about their memories.
But Indus’ father did return for additional fun and adventures in this instance. See more pictures and videos of Indus by visiting his Instagram account.