I have loved my dogs. I got my first one when I was eleven. Since then there have been only short breaks without one. I have never traveled with them.
One of the nice things about being dogless was our ability to hop in the car or on a plane and go. However, we knew that if we had a dog, we also had a Wonderful dog sitter who keeps dogs at her house, takes them on long hikes and loves them like her own. I even checked to make certain she was still in business before we said yes to Oso.
After a month of having Oso in the family, we planned to go to southern CA to visit family and for Dean to do business. No problem. Oso would go to Camp. Now hindsight is a wonderful thing and I can think of a number of things we might have done even in the moment to change things. As it was, we arrived at the gate and four dogs came barreling out the door to greet Oso. They started running and around and seeming to play. So we left him happily as we had our other dogs. Shortly down the road, we received a call from an almost frantic dog sitter. I had Never heard her sound this way. Oso would not come to her nor let her get close to him. After several phone calls and suggestions, we turned around, went back, picked him up and took him with us.
He lived in the back yard. We took him on lots of walks. Threw a frisbee for him. Found a ball under a bush and threw that to keep him moving. One night it was colder than Dean was comfortable with so he was talking about putting him in the garage when it was suggested we just let him sleep in our room. So we did and we all slept Much Better. I stayed home from one family event to keep him because he couldn’t go to this particular park. I would love to have gone and was in no way martyred to stay home. It was a lovely day and I was even able to be barefoot in the grass.
Grass needs to be mowed and one day I looked out and there were two men in the yard mowing it. I went out and called Oso and he was no where to be seen. “Where’s the dog?” One man points down the side of the house. I go around the corner and sure enough there is Oso. As far down the walk as he could go, back against the fence, sitting straight up, rigid, defying the noise to come at him. I wish I could have taken a picture. I took him to the bedroom, sat on the edge of my bed, Oso at my feet with his chin on my knee. I stroked his head and held a trembling dog until the mowing noise went away.
Today we came home. On the way down we had found several good places to stop and let us all walk around ~ our knees needing it as much as Oso’s. We are all glad to be home. Oso has run up and down the driveway several times; leaped on his frisbee and bouncing in the snow. He is staying close right now. Our wonderful dog sitter has promised to do what she can to make him comfortable with her. I think we will start with a walk with just the three of us.
It was an interesting week.
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