Recently, Pete and I went away for a bit. It was the sort of going away where you cant bring your dog, which causes all sorts of problems. It was the first time since Bonniedog joined our little family that we needed to both go away without her at the same time. We looked into all sorts of boarding options, but it turns out that they’re all really expensive, and either Big Group Play All Day With No Crates At All (yipes. BD is little and she likes to lay around all day. She gets bored with other dogs very quickly.) or Hang Out In A Kennel All Day With Two Bathroom Breaks And Playtime If You Pay Extra (oh hell no. My dog doesn’t even have a crate at home, so I’ll be damned if we put her in one for most of the day. Plus, her last owner unceremoniously dropped her off at a shelter before we got her, so we’d like to avoid doing that to our girl).
The chosen alternative: three-a-day dogwalks. Seriously.
It cost the same or a little less than the boarding facilities. It didn’t have any bad OMG MY DOG DIED THERE reviews on Yelp. It kept her on her 3-a-day walk schedule (morning, after work, and night). Bonniedog spent our vacation hanging out at home, roaming between the sunny side of the house and the couch and a blanket and her bed. When she was hungry or thirsty she ate and drank from her own bowls. She had walks through her neighborhood, and had guaranteed 30-mins of time with the dog walker each visit. She got all the bellyrubs she wanted.
The dog walker provided us with report cards each visit. We came home to a Very Excited Dog, and a stack of notes updating us on her bathroom habits (no #2 for the first day we were gone, but then she got over it) and how she greeted the walker at the door most of the time (except when she was napping in the sun). The walker informed us that BD was the light of her life because BD is so sweet and loveable.
And at the very top of every single report card, BonBon was reported as “looking very cute.”
Our response? “DUH.”
