Travel Arrangements-Part 1
We’re set to leave for Miami in the morning and I’ve spent the better part of the last 2 days trying to make myself feel less guilty for leaving Lou Lou behind. This happens every trip that she’s unable to join us…and it never gets any easier.
It’s been noted that Lou Lou leads a charmed life. When she was a baby, she once stayed at a kennel when we took our first trip without her. Once. Although it was one of those pricey, designer, “just like they’re at home” type of places that had popped up all over Chicago, we picked up a puppy who looked a tad shellshocked and smelled like kennel funk underneath the cloying scent of vanilla scented puppy shampoo. It took her a few days to get back to her regular self, but I had made up my mind in the car on the way home from the kennel. I was going to figure out a way for someone to stay in our house with her while we were away.
It couldn’t have happened more perfectly. One of her trainers at the Anti-Cruelty Society’s School of Dog Training had also become our walker on the days she didn’t go to doggy day care. From then on, whenever we had a trip, E, her pack of dogs and her boyfriend moved in for the duration of our travels. We left wine, beer, food and grocery money along with E’s payment for services rendered.(No 401K, but I would have offered it I could!) It was the best deal going. Lou Lou had a pack of playmates over for the doggy equivalent of sleep away camp and we had someone we loved and trusted in our home taking care of her.
When we moved back to DC, finding the new version of E was really at the top of my worry list. I interviewed a gentleman who did in-home boarding and came recommended by a neighbor, but he was full for the dates we had planned for our next trip. Reluctantly, we left her with family and I hated myself for it. For a dog who is accustomed to a big dose of daily exercise, play sessions several times a day and the universe revolving around her, I had sent her to the canine isolation house. This family’s own dog suffers from benign neglect; it goes into the yard to poop and pee, gets fed, no walkies, gets inconsistent attention, and goes way too long without proper grooming and nail trims. The entire time we were away, I felt tremendously guilty that we had left her in a place where she was getting the same level of care that most shelter dogs get. I checked on her via email daily, as is my usual pattern when we travel, but still had a pit in my stomach. There had to be a better way.
One of the wonders of Facebook is how much easier it is to keep in touch with people far away. During my last tour of duty in DC, I had a group of senior students that I was particularly close to. I knew their parents and siblings and we had kept in touch while they graduated from college and embarked upon life as educated adults. S and B were back in Arlington, working and going to grad school, respectively, and just happened to be two of the best human beings going. So I recruited them. Lou Lou now has two Aunties.
I can go on vacation and breathe easy again. I leave them 4 pages of directions (down from 6!) and the same ‘care package’ that E always had. They adore her and she adores them. Now only if we could avoid the dreaded ‘Suitcase Syndrome’ that afflicts Lou Lou every time we get ready to leave…