I'm headed out in the dark tomorrow morning to catch a plane to the West Coast. I'm heading to the pinnacle of dog behavior and training conferences, Clicker Expo.
Thankfully, my parents are willing to watch the brood for me, so I dropped them all off at Lake Anna today. The dogs, they're thrilled. A lake right in the backyard! They can run down every morning and evening and anytime in between.
Me, I'm miserable. I'm dogless for almost a week! It's a bit more bearable to be without a dog when I'm actually somewhere else. But being here at home, where the dogs follow me from room to room, it's just miserable.
But it is clean. I swept and mopped the floors today and it looks darn near sparkly here! And I didn't have to move a dog to get any of the floors mopped!
So, yes, there are upsides to not having the dogs at home. Give me the hair and the dirt – I need my dogs around!
I often wonder if I'm too attached to the dogs. I mean, c'mon, they won't be gone for even a week! I shouldn't miss the mess, the hair, the dirt, the in-and-out, the training, the sixteen muddy paws… But I do.
And I miss the Great Dane on my lap, the Labradors at my feet, the tennis ball dropped into my lap and the expectant eyes that go with it. I miss the unbridled excitement when I return from the mailbox. I miss the tail wags. I miss the playful antics. I miss the snoring Great Dane. I miss my dogs.
I’m thinking after you finish getting Talos trained and send to his new person that maybe you need to add a Great Dane of your own to your brood. They are different special dogs you do have to admit.
Have fun at the Clicker Expo…I really wanted to go to that someday maybe with my next dog. Have fun.
Denise
I know what you mean. Cody went to the “Beauty Parlor” aka Pet Smart over the weekend and I was lost for 4 hrs!!! Sad, I know. Where is Dana in all this????
I hear ya! We have always felt it is too quiet without pets. To hear the tail wagging or see the excitement when you come home, there is nothing like it. True unconditional love. Did you pack a picture with you or on your phone, it will help ease things 🙂
Learn lots of fun things and just think of the welcome you will get when you return!
I know the feeling! If Florida hadn’t been so much fun I would have missed my dogs way more than I did on my honeymoon.
Totally hear ya! I hate the dogless nights before traveling!!! The cats just don’t follow as much as I’d like them, too.
I have two dogs now, 14-year-old Karl and Gracie who’s 9. I sometimes think I love them too much as I hate to leave them and limit my vacations so as not to be away from them. I’ve told my wife that if I have my way (which likely I won’t!) these two would be our last. Your post makes it clear, however, that the love we share with our dogs does not come without a price. I try to envision a dogless house and frankly, I don’t like what I see. Will there be no end? ;^)
Thanks for all the comments! It’s comforting to know I’m not alone! What would we do without our dogs? Life might be a little neater and cleaner, but oh, how boring!