July 19, 2016

Pretty Sure The Dog Thought I Adandoned Her

I was away last week on a road trip with two of my sisters.
Beautiful weather for a road trip!
All my siblings (4 sisters and 1 brother) plus my sister-in-law met up in South Dakota, where my parents were from, to have a funeral for my mom and bury her ashes alongside my dad's. I'll post some pics from the trip next week, but today I'll share some Rita pics.

We always leave Rita with my sis & her dog Reggie when we travel, but since all my siblings were going, that wasn't an option. The hubs stayed behind, but we knew he'd have a crazy-busy work week, so I arranged for a local dog-walking/training company to come in every day for walkies.

This was the first time leaving Rita alone with Daddy for more than one night, so I'm pretty sure she was confused. The service was really nice because every day they'd send me a message about how Rita did on the walk (always a glowing report) along with a photo.*

Some days she looked less than thrilled. Poor kid was missing her mama! (I think she looks so cute, if somewhat confused, in this first pic.)
"Who are you and what have you done with my Momma?"
"Normally my Momma walks me. I'm not sure about this."
"Has anyone seen my Momma?? Siriusly. This isn't funny anymore."
In this one, I'm not sure if she's finally getting used to the routine and is actually happy, or if she was just hot.
"Well, if Momma has abandoned me, at least it's nice to get out and about."
She looked happy in this one - although the Momma immediately noticed that the Daddy had forgotten to put her collar on her in the morning. (She sleeps in the nude. Scandalous.)
"Whoo-hoo! I'm a streaker!"
She was a very happy girl when Momma got home, and especially happy to get back to our routine of going for our walk/runs on the beach.
Happy (non-naked) girl, post-beach-walk/run
I was worried about leaving her during a week when Daddy was going to be so busy, but luckily both she and the Daddy managed to survive! But hopefully we won't have to do this again any time soon!

* Non-watermarked photos are from DogZenergy walkers. Thanks DogZenergy! Even though Rita was probably confused, I'm sure she appreciated the chance to get out for a walk - and especially appreciated the treats!

Do you feel guilty and worry when you have to leave your dog behind?

Thanks to BlogPaws for hosting Wordless Wednesday! Stop by their site to check out all of the other blogs in the hop.

46 comments:

  1. It's so great to come home to a dog

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    1. It's the best! Although... she did bark at me when I first opened the door. The "intruder!" bark. So, I'm pretty sure she thought i was gone for good.

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  2. She definitely has the "Where is my Momma?" look. I hate leaving our dogs and we really rarely do it. It amazes me though that they will actually do things for Daddy when I'm not around. For instance, if they have to go outside in the middle of the night, they always wake me up. When Dad tries to take them so I can stay in bed, they won't go with him. The same goes for basically anytime they have to go out. But when I'm not home, they go out for him fine. It's rather annoying.

    Sounds like a nice trip and a lovely thing to do for your Mom. Glad you enjoyed it.

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    1. That is funny. Why should they do stuff for Dad when Mom's around?? :)

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  3. What a great dog walking service. Yes, I'm not a fan of leaving the dogs behind. Usually for me it's only part of a day......but still.

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    1. I don't mind leaving her for a little while - I know she just sleeps - but if it's a LONG day, then I worry about her, of course.

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  4. Other than going away for the day (and back later the same day), we never leave the dogs. Haven't taken a vacation without them since getting Jimmy. It is somewhat limiting, but does provide wonderful peace of mind.

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    1. It's important to have a place you can leave them where you feel like you don't have to worry.. I usually have that when we leave her with my sis, so it was stressful this time with not being able to do that!

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  5. Great pictures, thanks for the share.

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  6. Rita has such an expressive face. She could have a great movie or TV career. Has she had acting lessons or is she just a natural?

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    1. haha. She's just a natural! A real canine Meryl Streep! :)

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  7. The guilt eats me up! We have a big trip later this year and I feel so guilty about leaving them that I made my husband book the kennel!

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    1. Oh, yeah, that's bad guilt. I thought i was the worst for guilt, but you're on par. :)

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  8. Often times we will simply not walk if Mom has left us. We don't want to miss her if she happens to return. I'm sure Rita was so excited when you returned home.

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    1. Rita did go on the walks - but she didn't eat her breakfast a single day while I was gone! That's sweet you guys won't walk without your mom!

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  9. omg yes. I worry. I call. We usually end up taking him when we can because of that. Rita looked like she was thinking exactly what you wrote!

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    1. She really does look like she's thinking that, doesn't she? :)

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  10. LOL - that's tough! ...but she looked properly unhappy (or maybe happy) that you were gone!

    Monty, Harlow and Ramble

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    1. It's not easy to leave the furry babies behind!

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  11. Usually mine are deliriously happy to see me, but at times they find ways to pay me back with little slights. Hershey once stayed out in the yard until midnight. Then the sprinklers came on and suddenly I was forgiven!

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  12. I'm glad all went well with Rita and hubby. Sorry for your loss again and glad you all got together for the funeral and closure.

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    1. Thank you. It was really nice that we were all there.

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  13. Awe, she does look a little confused in a couple of those pictures. We left Ruby for a week with a pet sitter for the first time in June - and I was so worried about her the whole time!

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    1. That first pic of her kills me. She's really trying to work out what the heck is going on. She's so damn cute. Glad your vacation without Ruby is behind you! Glad mine is too! I worried before it, I worried during it - lots of worrying!

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  14. Oh Rita, I know your Dog mom missed you too and you definitely looked confused about who was taking you for your walks. Jackie, it's nice you and your siblings were all able to make the tip together. So sorry again for the loss of your mother!

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    1. Thank you.. It was a good trip, minus all the driving and the worrying about the hubs and the dog!

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  15. Oh sweet Rita. I am sure she was confused.

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    1. She sure looks it, doesn't she? She's a pretty good communicator!

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  16. That is SO nice they send the pics. That would reassure me tremendously. She does look a tad confused but oh-so-adorable, of course!

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    1. Yeah, I thought she looked pretty darn adorable in that first one. :)

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  17. It's always troubling for a mama's girl (or boy for that matter) to be away from the most impawtant person in their world despite dad and a dog-walker being there. But it looks like sweet Rita survived your absence nicely. Happy for all of you! ღ

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    1. She is definitely a mama's girl, so I'm guessing it was a little rough on her.

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  18. I feel guilty, AND *I* get separation anxiety (not sure if they do lol). This past year and a half, I've had to travel a lot. Dislike! I want to be home with my hounds!

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    1. I'm such a home-body. That's no fun to have to travel a lot. I don't mind traveling now and again, but, yeah - mostly i'm happy to be home with the hubs and the dog!

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  19. hello rita its dennis the vizsla dog hay its tuff wen mamas go away isnt it??? altho i barely notissd it wen dada went away for a week!!! ennyway i am glad yore mama is bak and the pak is reyoonited wunse mor!!! ok bye

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    1. Hahaha. That's funny Dennis. I take it Mama is the favorite - sounds like our house. :) (Poor daddys!)

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  20. Those photos are so nice to get when you are away!

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  21. Seems like Rita adjusted pretty quickly to the disruption in her routine. I'm sure she's elated that you're home!

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  22. Poor Rita does look a little down in some of the pics. Glad you're back together again. I love that she sleeps "naked." I also love the fact that the dogwalking company sends daily photos. What a great idea (and an awesome marketing tool, too, which we writers should take note of, eh?). My partner was gone for two weeks and Seriously was so confused as to why there was only one person in the house. She kept waking me up in the middle of the night. And then when he finally came home, she ignored him, lol. I guess she's a bit passive/aggressive. Cheers and hope you're having a great week.

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  23. Poor Rita she does look miserable in the first few pictures, or more likely she was putting on an act. lol

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  24. I hope I can convince my dog walker to text me photos! Poor Rita, she does look a bit put out in the first few photos.

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