Never Base Your Self-Esteem On Dogs
I rarely travel, unlike Douglas who travels almost every week. So needless to say I'm the one who is the constant at home and the primary caregiver--previously to the children and the pets and now mostly to just the pets.
We currently own two dogs and a bird. One golden retriever named Idgy who is 6 1/2 years old, a yellow lab named Beau who is 4 years old, and an African Grey named Percy who is about 12 years old. The golden has a seizure disorder, the lab was adopted from Douglas' research assistant at 8 months of age because he was eating the sheetrock in her condo, and the bird is neurotic and constantly plucks all of its feathers out no matter what treatments we have tried.
Now I care for the animals daily; feeding and watering them, giving them medicine, and taking them out to play. The dogs have a routine of playing outside twice-a-day at about 10:30 AM and then again around 4:30 PM and "checking" the mail around noon. If I get busy and forget any of these times, they come and get me. The bird likes to be talked to and enjoys talking back, but only if I am not in the same room (just like in the wild) so I have to be close enough to heard but out to sight. They are a joy, but rather time consuming.
Whenever Douglas begins to pack to go out of town, the dogs start geting moody and after he leaves they display certain behaviors to let me know they are unhappy that he left. Idgy, in particular, will become non-compliant, wandering away in the dark when we go out before bed or running into the pond after playtime (she knows this aggravates me). When Douglas comes back from a trip, the dogs go wild. They whine and cry and jump all over him, licking him like crazy and bascially acting like he had been a prisoner of war suddenly saved and returned.
Now, for the first time in a long while I leave for six days. Apparently the animals barely took notice and when I returned Idgy opened her eyes from where she was lying on her doggie bed and then closed them again as in BFD she's home. Beau walked around about two minutes carrying a shoe which is the same behavior he shows whenever anyone comes to the door,like the pest control man. It was disheartening. I felt unloved, unmissed, and unwanted. I know intellectually this is silly but emotionally it was difficult. Why do they get so excitied when Douglas comes home and not me? He said it was something about the time of day I came home, I think he was just trying to think of something nice to say because their behavior was so embarrasing.
All I can say is no extra cookies or nuts are coming their way anytime soon. They may just be dumb animals but they should be smarter when it comes to knowing who butters their bread.
We currently own two dogs and a bird. One golden retriever named Idgy who is 6 1/2 years old, a yellow lab named Beau who is 4 years old, and an African Grey named Percy who is about 12 years old. The golden has a seizure disorder, the lab was adopted from Douglas' research assistant at 8 months of age because he was eating the sheetrock in her condo, and the bird is neurotic and constantly plucks all of its feathers out no matter what treatments we have tried.
Now I care for the animals daily; feeding and watering them, giving them medicine, and taking them out to play. The dogs have a routine of playing outside twice-a-day at about 10:30 AM and then again around 4:30 PM and "checking" the mail around noon. If I get busy and forget any of these times, they come and get me. The bird likes to be talked to and enjoys talking back, but only if I am not in the same room (just like in the wild) so I have to be close enough to heard but out to sight. They are a joy, but rather time consuming.
Whenever Douglas begins to pack to go out of town, the dogs start geting moody and after he leaves they display certain behaviors to let me know they are unhappy that he left. Idgy, in particular, will become non-compliant, wandering away in the dark when we go out before bed or running into the pond after playtime (she knows this aggravates me). When Douglas comes back from a trip, the dogs go wild. They whine and cry and jump all over him, licking him like crazy and bascially acting like he had been a prisoner of war suddenly saved and returned.
Now, for the first time in a long while I leave for six days. Apparently the animals barely took notice and when I returned Idgy opened her eyes from where she was lying on her doggie bed and then closed them again as in BFD she's home. Beau walked around about two minutes carrying a shoe which is the same behavior he shows whenever anyone comes to the door,like the pest control man. It was disheartening. I felt unloved, unmissed, and unwanted. I know intellectually this is silly but emotionally it was difficult. Why do they get so excitied when Douglas comes home and not me? He said it was something about the time of day I came home, I think he was just trying to think of something nice to say because their behavior was so embarrasing.
All I can say is no extra cookies or nuts are coming their way anytime soon. They may just be dumb animals but they should be smarter when it comes to knowing who butters their bread.