I need to recover from our “vacation”!

[Annette47]

We took the dogs with us last weekend to visit some of my husband’s family in MA. We did it last year and it was great - dogs were well behaved, and there is a dog beach within walking distance of the house, so we thought ok, it will be great, let's take them again.

Strike one - a few days before we leave, Cookie comes into season. Okay, well, we’ll deal with it but it does make things more difficult, especially since they don’t have a fenced yard. The day before we leave, Chloe sprains a toe. Okay, well maybe she won’t be able to run on the beach but we’ll deal with that, too somehow. The first morning after we arrive, Sass comes into season for the first time. ARRRGH! Thankfully I had thrown a spare pair of panties in for Cookie, so I had something to use, but it was aggravating and unexpected. Fortunately after about 48 hours on Galliprant, Chloe’s toe was no longer bothering her so the beach was back on. There’s usually very few people there during the weekdays, so we could take all 3, and just watch for potential suitors - we only met one boy with impure thoughts but he was on his way off the beach anyway, so it wasn’t an issue as his owner just leashed him up and continued on. We mostly kept the girls pretty far out to sea (the water was very shallow so to get where they could actually swim we waded way further out than most dogs ever go) and really didn’t have any trouble keeping them away from the very few male dogs we encountered. Trying to keep them calm and quiet in the house without the outlet of running and swimming would have been very difficult.

So we got into a workable routine with the beach and the panties, until the last night we were there. DH’s cousin (whose mother owns the house where we were staying) and his fiancee decide to drop by for a surprise visit ... with their 9 month old Berner pup who had been neutered about 2 weeks prior. OY. I was NOT happy about it, but they all said “but he’s neutered”, and I said “but the hormones are still circulating”. They had driven all the way from NH without telling anyone first, so there wasn’t much to be done about it. We decided to introduce them and see what happened (I could have told them, but they needed to see for themselves). Cookie decided to literally throw herself at him, and after about 10 minutes, he figured out what she was offering and was willing to accept, so we had to separate them for the duration before they could go through with it - which included overnight into the next morning. I felt bad for the poor dog - everyone kept complaining how wild he is (compared to our dogs) but he had just come off of post-surgical exercise restrictions, still had plenty of his male hormones and was in a house with two bitches in season. Of course he was wild! And of course, they hadn’t brought a crate or other means of confining him. Thankfully we had gates for the deck, and crates for inside so we could keep them separated.

Nice to be back home where the only problem I have to deal with is that we only have two pairs of panties that actually fit the girls. We have a couple other pair that are two big which are left over from previous dogs, so since I wanted to wash the ones they’d been wearing all week I had to put the large ones on Sass and Cook, and to keep them from falling off, had to duct tape them on!

[kimbersmom]

Wow, I'm exhausted just reading your post!

Sometimes the best part of a vacation is getting back home.

[smartrock]

Oh gosh, the mental image of them being taped into their drawers is too funny! Oh those surprise visits, sounds like the surprise was on them just as much as you guys!

[POPTOP]

Sorry, but this made me giggle. What a "vacation"!

Now to get some rest at home.

[Tanya]

Wow! Now that sounds exausting! Glad everyone got thru ok! Time for a break!

[JackK]

A visit to my neck of the woods. Nice - well maybe not so nice. I needed a drink before I finished reading your tale lol.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[janedoe]

At least you had good weather! Honestly, as soon as you said you were traveling with three dogs, I tensed up.

[Snowshoe]

Where is the duct tape photo? Oh, you didn't want to embarass them? HOme is good, isn't it? Glad it all went as well as it did. Were the girls snappy with each other?

[Annette47]

Were the girls snappy with each other?

No, never. And the two young ones even had to share a crate for 7 hours in the car! (With all 4 humans, we only have room for 2 crates in the back). Thankfully they get along very well.