Understand what he has actually lost
During the holidays your dog's world fills up: more voices, more laps, more games, visitors arriving with exciting smells, and someone almost always within sight. When that collapses back to an empty, silent house, the contrast itself is the problem, not any single absence. A dog who shadows you from room to room in the first quiet week is usually not being difficult; he is checking whether the new stillness is permanent. Expect a few unsettled days, keep your responses calm and predictable, and avoid either smothering him with compensating attention or scolding the clinginess, since both teach him the change is a big emotional event.
Taper the company instead of switching it off
If you know the return to work and school is coming, thin out the constant contact gradually during the last holiday days: let him rest in his own bed while people are in another room, keep some greetings deliberately brief, and reintroduce the ordinary pattern of closed doors and separate activities. Keep one or two of his favourite holiday additions alive in the normal week, such as the longer morning walk or a regular evening game, because total loss of every pleasure makes the quiet feel worse, while a kept ritual gives him something reliable inside the new routine.
Make quiet time occupied, not empty
A silent house is easier for a dog who has something to do in it. Rotate solo occupations through the week, including scent hunts around a room, a chew saved for rest periods, and food toys that take real time, so his alone hours contain events rather than one long wait. Practise micro-separations even when you are home, settling him behind a gate or in his bed while you work nearby, which keeps the skill of relaxing apart from you warm. If he works, arrange a midday visit or walk on the quietest days so the longest stretches of stillness are broken up.
Settle the new normal for everyone
Dogs take their cue from household consistency, so agree the post-holiday pattern once and hold it: same walk times, same rest spot, same calm door routine, and no family member secretly restoring holiday-level attention on their days home, which restarts the contrast problem every time. Most dogs rebalance within a week or two. If yours is still off his food, pacing at doors, or toileting indoors after a fortnight of steady routine, mention it to your vet so anything else going on is not missed. Write the agreed routine, walk times, and rest arrangements into his profile in KinsLe via Family Sharing, so everyone in the house holds the same quiet-week plan.