What do you miss about the pre-dog days?

[kimbersmom]

I seriously love Kimber more than I ever thought possible and would be devastated if/when anything happens to her. She fills my days with unimaginable joy. I assume most of you feel the same way about your labs.

And yet.

There are definitely times that I miss the freedom of not having a dog. For the first time in years and years, DH has some flexibility in his work schedule and could take more than a day off. I've saved up some money so we could do some traveling. But we really don't have a good Kimber-sitter solution at the moment, and neither of us feels comfortable leaving her alone in a hotel or rented house while we check out sights. I'm sure we'll figure out a sitting situation, but at the moment, I'm feeling a little bummed at missed travel opportunities.

What do you miss about the pre-dog days?

[shellbell]

Serious exercise. I walk the dogs an hour each day before work. Then come home from work, and try to do some training activities, plus they are both in various classes. Pre-dog, I would have been spending that hour before work going for a run, and probably strength training after work. But I am NOT complaining, we are all very happy in our current routine.

[smartrock]

Being able to go places on a more spontaneous basis would be one thing. One of my kids lives in NYC and a train from Baltimore takes about 2 1/2 hours. It's a super easy trip except for having to make kennel reservations, measure out their food and supplements and drive the>hour round-trip to take them to the kennel, usually the day before we actually leave. It would be nice to be able to leave with less planning. And forget being able to plan to go away on holidays less than 3-4 months in advance if you want a kennel reservation.

i also miss not having to vacuum every day or two.

I will admit it, I definitely would not be working out!

[ZoeysMommy]

Hmm probably the same as you, lack of vacations without the dogs. We do leave Zoey and Daisee in hotel rooms in the evenings while we go eat and explore, they are dead tired anyway from the daytime activities so it doesnt bother me. Maybe something like that would work with Kimber

I promised my husband id take a vacation that doesnt include them, maybe someday! Truth is i enjoy taking them and my mom watches the 2 little ones and i feel kinda guilty asking her to take all 4 for anything longer than one night

[SCDoug]

I agree with Smartrock about limiting your abiilty to be spontaneous. Everything takes quite a bit of planning. We're very fortunate to have some friends that live close (they have a GSD that Lola has a blast playing with) and they took care of Lola for 12 days when we took a trip to Europe in September.

We love our routine though, and wouldn't have it any other way.

[doubledip1]

I miss being able to be out of the house for more than 8 hours. The closest IKEA is 3 hours away, so 6 hours of just driving. So we have to plan to have somebody let Luna out... I miss being able to just go.

[Sue-Ram]

Ram said that Kimber is more than welcome to come and stay with us any time you want to go away. He's definitely a "yes dear" kind of guy, so he would be perfect for Kimber.

[Jax's Mom]

I agree with everyone, being able to come and go without having to plan it. Also like everyone else said, he is worth that sacrifice.

[smartrock]

Yes, they do make up for the inconvenience. And we weren't so inconvenienced by Chase that we didn't go ahead and bring in Larky, just to add to the logistical dilemmas. And hair...

[BaconsMom]

I would have to agree--the freedom to take last minute trips, be gone over dinner hour, stay late at work with no consequences. However, Bacon is my world, and I can't see our lives without him. His happy face and wagging tail are the highlight of my day