A dog does not need your day to have gone well before being glad you returned.

Being welcomed without assessment is rarer than it should be. Most greetings carry a small evaluation of how you look, how you did, whether you are late, and after enough of them you start arriving pre-defended. An animal at the door skips all of that, and the relief you feel is information about how much appraisal you are usually braced for. The welcome is unearned, which is precisely why it works.

Try greeting one person this week before asking how anything went. Gladness first, questions afterwards, and see what it does to the room.