I feel rusty at this you guys.
I know the way to get things moving again is to just go ahead and start moving them, but for some reason that feels hard right now. I keep being struck by inspiration, especially when I am far, far from my computer, and by the time I get back to the computer, I think Is this really appropriate to put on the internet FOREVER? In addition to all of my funny little jobs, I have a real person job right now, one for which I just purchased a 9-pound box of shoes (Zappos.com tells you the weight of your box – don’t worry, I don’t go around weighing my shoes) and for which I need to hem several pairs of pants. I dress like a Real Adult Person on a semi-regular basis (at least four days a week! Sometimes 5!).
Anyway, the Real Life Job has me thinking a little bit more about who might stumble over here, and while I have nothing to hide, it’s definitely a little different than it used to be.
So, that said, I think today is a good day for an admission. Are you ready?
We found dog care that we like love.
Maybe you were briefly excited for/disappointed by a potential pregnancy announcement? (I think everyone I know either just had a baby, is about to have a baby, or is trying to be about to have a baby. Count us out, thank you very much.) No, this blog is focused on my dogs, remember?
especially when they snuggle (photo from a friend of ours - I have never actually seen them do this)
You may recall that Lenny, darling though she is, is a bit of a handful. Over the last couple of months, she has stopped coming when called, started running further away, jumped our 6+ foot fence multiple times, gotten into several scuffles at the dog park, and brought me a freshly dead squirrel. I did not see the squirrel alive; for all I know, she found it. She did seem awfully disappointed that it was no longer moving. Anyway. The important part of this story is that this cute little dog is a whole lot of work.
a whole lot of work in a whole lot of clothes
One solution to a dog that can’t be off-leash in the yard and can’t go off-leash in the woods and can’t go to a fenced in dog park and can’t go to a non-fenced in dog park is a whole lot of walks. Sadly, Lenny has a leash-walk related flaw: if she sees a cat or a squirrel, she essentially has a seizure, which consists of her contorting her body in ways you did not realize a dog could contort its body, getting her and sometimes me entirely wrapped in her leash, trying to pull me over, and all the while, she is screaming. Let me tell you, this has not encouraged anyone’s leash-walking behavior.
Some people, you know, are dog trainers and behaviorists and know how to pick these problems apart and fix them. Of those people, some of those people will actually do the fixing rather than just speculate. Other people have far too many jobs and will simply fall to their knees in gratitude because they found The Most Amazing Doggie Daycare, and it is their savior. Hint: I am one of the latter.
Lenny after a day of doggie daycare (what, you don't use your poang as a dog bed??)
We found our daycare at a dog festival, throughout which Lenny was remarkably well-behaved. The people attending their booth cooed over my little dog, talked about loving pitties, and assured me that they never, ever allow toys at their daycare. We arranged a time for Lenny to go in for an evaluation. And at the evaluation? Not only was Lenny amazing, all of the staff loved her.
When Lenny jumped their fence the first week, they smiled and moved her to a room with higher fences. When I was running late one day, they offered to drive her home. When I walk in the door, they know exactly who I am and they run to get her. When I drop Lenny off, she runs all the way to the door, her entire body wagging. The first day I dropped her off, she tried to follow me when I left; the second day I dropped her off, she did not even look back at me. When Lenny comes home at night, she sleeps for two days.
We. Love. Daycare.
Granted, I feel a little funny sending my dog to daycare. At first, I felt really guilty. But as Lenny’s problem behaviors have gotten worse (e.g. jumping the fence in the yard while I’m playing with her), it has been a huge relief to have somewhere safe and friendly to send her. Once she’s a little more worn out from daycare, she can manage the leashwalks and is less interested in all of the things out in the world. We started with one day a week; now we do two. These two days get that burst of energy out and on the other days we do walks, training, and a ton of playtime. We still occasionally enjoy the woods.
I strongly believe that dogs should get some solid running in at least once a week. If those muscles weren't made for running, then what?
Does anyone else send their pup to daycare? Did you struggle with justifying it? Why is it (or isn’t it) worth it to you?
(Finally, if anyone needs a dog daycare recommendation in the Boston area, send me an email! I’d love to recommend ours.)
when the puppy's away, the big dog can play (everyone appreciates a little bit of a sanity break, not to mention a chance to play unsupervised with ALL THE STUFFED TOYS. Plus, the reunion is always glorious - so much tail-wagging!)
Yay yay yay a doggie daycare you love! Yay being more in love with Lenny! Yay real life job 4-5x/week!
xoxo
so sad that you and i live on opposite sides of the city!
we will be looking for a daycare for toby in the next couple of months, and i feel like it’s not easy to find one you really feel comfortable with! but i am happy to see lenny has a place to go and have fun, especially one that makes home life a little easier 
Oh man… One of my dogs is currently on the backslide track too. And right as work gets crazy… I wish we had doggy daycare here!
We only use daycare for our pups occasionally (generally if we have large amounts of family over or know we will be gone for a long time). There isn’t really a dog care provider around here meant for multiple weekly visits, so we just use one who is actually a boarder for 8-5 play days. When they come home, they sleep like the dead. It’s pretty awesome.
We haven’t found a good doggy daycare in our area, but we did recently get a dog walker to come once a week on the day when my husband and I both have craaaazy schedules. I felt guilty about that at first, but it has literally been life changing for us. I don’t have to come home from a long day to a dog who is bouncing off the walls. My husband and I don’t fight over whose responsibility it is to deal with the dog nearly as much. She is happier, we are happier. We used to agonize over whether we could handle dog ownership and whether adopting Pearl was a huge mistake. But between lots of training and the dog walker, I never question that anymore. I may get frustrated with her some days (well… most days), but the overall feeling is very different. I don’t know why it took me this long to do it. That one day a week is a game changer.
P.S. Pearl also jumps our fence and her recall is terrible (we suspect she has sighthound in her and doubt she will ever be safe off-leash) so she gets very limited opportunities to run free. It makes tiring her out MUCH harder since, if she is running, one of us is likely running too! We feel your pain on this one- having an escape artist who is also high energy is a giant challenge.