I Will See You Soon!

                I know it’s been a long while since I’ve last written about what is going on in my neck of the woods, but I am out and about on vacation and internet access is very limiting.  I had been visiting my nephews, KC, as well as my oldest brother (side note:  I am not sure if many of you know this, but I have 2 brothers.  I am the youngest of the siblings, so for blogging purposes I differentiate between my brothers by saying oldest, who is the first born, and my older brother, the middle child; kind of confusing I know, but that’s what I have always called them), and now am heading up to visit my Grandma as well as JM’s Mum-Mum.  Since both of our grandmothers are in their 80’s JM convinced me to leave JD with some friends.  His reasoning was because she is a rather large dog and the risk of her knocking over one of our grandmothers accidently is imminent, also, we will be spending part of the trip at his parents’ house and they prefer not to have a large shedding dog in their household.  As much as it pains me to take P and leave my precious JD behind, I complied.  However, the preparations for leaving JD behind were exhausting.   She suffers from separation anxiety.  I had her since the day she was born, and I’ll admit I suffer from it too.  Whenever I leave for a trip and I am unable to bring her (which is very rarely, I take her almost everywhere), she tends to go on what I call a “hunger strike.”  JD just refuses to eat.  A trip that lasts less than a week, she can lose up to 10 lbs.  That’s not healthy for a dog, or anyone for that matter.  So when I leave to go somewhere, I make sure of a few things before I leave:

1. She knows and is comfortable with the family/friends I leave her with
2. She gets along with their dogs and/or children if they have any (which is never a question since she loves kids and meeting new play pals)
3. I cook her boiled liver with brown rice.  The doggie sitter mixes about ½ cup in with her food, as an enticement to eat (I don’t want a skeleton of a dog when I get back)
4. I pack her a “doggie survival bag” with her favorite toys, treats, and any medication she could possibly need (JM has severe allergies in the spring and summer months)
5. I make sure that they will take her for walks or play fetch with her so she gets enough exercise to curb her anxiety induced chewing
6. Probably the most important, THEY LOVE DOGS! and more specifically MY dog.

                Seems like a lot of work for “just a dog” (other people’s words, not mine), but to me, she’s more than “just a dog,” she’s family and very much so worth the so called trouble.

A face I MISS! and LOVE!

P.s.  Happy late Father’s Day for all the dads out there.