I'm headed out in the dark tomorrow morning to catch a plane to the West Coast. I'm heading to the pinnacle of dog behavior and training conferences, Clicker Expo.
Thankfully, my parents are willing to watch the brood for me, so I dropped them all off at Lake Anna today. The dogs, they're thrilled. A lake right in the backyard! They can run down every morning and evening and anytime in between.
Me, I'm miserable. I'm dogless for almost a week! It's a bit more bearable to be without a dog when I'm actually somewhere else. But being here at home, where the dogs follow me from room to room, it's just miserable.
But it is clean. I swept and mopped the floors today and it looks darn near sparkly here! And I didn't have to move a dog to get any of the floors mopped!
So, yes, there are upsides to not having the dogs at home. Give me the hair and the dirt - I need my dogs around!
I often wonder if I'm too attached to the dogs. I mean, c'mon, they won't be gone for even a week! I shouldn't miss the mess, the hair, the dirt, the in-and-out, the training, the sixteen muddy paws... But I do.
And I miss the Great Dane on my lap, the Labradors at my feet, the tennis ball dropped into my lap and the expectant eyes that go with it. I miss the unbridled excitement when I return from the mailbox. I miss the tail wags. I miss the playful antics. I miss the snoring Great Dane. I miss my dogs.
