Sunday - July 13th, 2008
Brian's dad picked us up from the airport around 8 am. The highlight of this day, of course, was picking up our aminals.
Our friends, Frank and Alison, kept Cheyenne and Sadie at their house while we were gone. They have a cattle dog named Maggie and their roommate had just moved out and taken her jack russell with her. We were glad to hear that Maggie, Cheyenne and Sadie all got along the whole week. We had of course tested this beforehand, but still. We were also glad to hear that Cheyenne and Sadie picked up the idea of the dog door quickly. Cheyenne knew how to use one before we adopted her, but it had been six or seven months, and we had no clue about Sadie's past.
We were a little sad that we didn't get to see Sadie at the dog park for her first time. She hadn't had all her puppy vaccines until the day we moved from the condo into the house...and as I've posted, we had been super busy since then. But it sounds like Frank took them there every day! He had even taken them there earlier that morning. So they were pretty tired when we came to pick them up and did not show as much enthusiasm at our return as we had expected.
We had already planned on taking them to the dog park that day as a treat for us leaving them for a week, and we didn't change our plans just because they had already been there. Still, despite knowing they were tired from all the playing Brian and I couldn't help think they were almost mad at us for taking off. It was the first time since we've adopted them that we've left them for more than maybe 8 hours. And adopted dogs generally have major issues with separation anxiety. Even though we didn't keep them at a kennel and they obviously had a blast while we were gone, they still were acting very distant.
It even took another day really before their bouncy, loving personalities came back. After that, they were acting even more well behaved than before (they've both been exceptional dogs since we've adopted them, especially considering their ages and breeds). Almost as if now that they were over the hurt they were going to make sure we were always happy with them so that we would never leave again.
Brian didn't go with me to pick up Rya from Tori's house. I had dropped her off there on the Thursday night before we left. Brian didn't even realize she was gone, exclaiming that Friday afternoon that we had forgotten to take her to Tori's. Then he acted hurt that he didn't have a chance to say goodbye. Then, bringing it back full circle, he chose not to go to Tori's with me to pick her up. Anyone else confused?
When I dropped Rya off, she was not a happy kitty. She was already stressed out by the lightening and thunder and so she was hissing at Tori's cat, Cole (Toby still had not emerged from the bedroom at this point). This was actually quite a role change, because last time I left Rya there Cole was hissing at her and she was still going right up to him and rubbing up against him determined that he would love her. She was still not great when I finally left, although much better. When I came to pick her up, you wouldn't have been able to guess that she ever had a problem with Cole. And, unlike the dogs, she was still very happy to see me right off the bat.
Our friends, Frank and Alison, kept Cheyenne and Sadie at their house while we were gone. They have a cattle dog named Maggie and their roommate had just moved out and taken her jack russell with her. We were glad to hear that Maggie, Cheyenne and Sadie all got along the whole week. We had of course tested this beforehand, but still. We were also glad to hear that Cheyenne and Sadie picked up the idea of the dog door quickly. Cheyenne knew how to use one before we adopted her, but it had been six or seven months, and we had no clue about Sadie's past.
We were a little sad that we didn't get to see Sadie at the dog park for her first time. She hadn't had all her puppy vaccines until the day we moved from the condo into the house...and as I've posted, we had been super busy since then. But it sounds like Frank took them there every day! He had even taken them there earlier that morning. So they were pretty tired when we came to pick them up and did not show as much enthusiasm at our return as we had expected.
We had already planned on taking them to the dog park that day as a treat for us leaving them for a week, and we didn't change our plans just because they had already been there. Still, despite knowing they were tired from all the playing Brian and I couldn't help think they were almost mad at us for taking off. It was the first time since we've adopted them that we've left them for more than maybe 8 hours. And adopted dogs generally have major issues with separation anxiety. Even though we didn't keep them at a kennel and they obviously had a blast while we were gone, they still were acting very distant.
It even took another day really before their bouncy, loving personalities came back. After that, they were acting even more well behaved than before (they've both been exceptional dogs since we've adopted them, especially considering their ages and breeds). Almost as if now that they were over the hurt they were going to make sure we were always happy with them so that we would never leave again.
Brian didn't go with me to pick up Rya from Tori's house. I had dropped her off there on the Thursday night before we left. Brian didn't even realize she was gone, exclaiming that Friday afternoon that we had forgotten to take her to Tori's. Then he acted hurt that he didn't have a chance to say goodbye. Then, bringing it back full circle, he chose not to go to Tori's with me to pick her up. Anyone else confused?
When I dropped Rya off, she was not a happy kitty. She was already stressed out by the lightening and thunder and so she was hissing at Tori's cat, Cole (Toby still had not emerged from the bedroom at this point). This was actually quite a role change, because last time I left Rya there Cole was hissing at her and she was still going right up to him and rubbing up against him determined that he would love her. She was still not great when I finally left, although much better. When I came to pick her up, you wouldn't have been able to guess that she ever had a problem with Cole. And, unlike the dogs, she was still very happy to see me right off the bat.