when the dog’s away, the humans come out to play!

June 3, 2010

A friend from college got married this weekend in Baltimore. Because the wedding coincided with the Memorial Day, Christopher and I thought it would be fun to make a mini-vacation of it – maybe even a four day weekend.

There’s always the question, though, of what to do with Sadie. Aside from our trip to Brazil, we have only been away for a night or two at time. A holiday weekend was going to be a little tougher — and four days is too long (for me) to send her to the kennel…

Thankfully, my parents were extremely generous and agreed to watch Sadie over the long weekend. I hadn’t asked them initially because they have an open yard and keep the doggie door open at all times because their 10-year old dog, Reilly, has been trained to obey the electric fence. The immediate street access worried me so, as a solution, my folks ended up taking both dogs to their camp in Maine.

I think all parties were a bit apprehensive leading up to the weekend. While Sadie is fairly well trained, she isn’t perfect. She is full of energy and sometimes her excitement gets the best of her (think: jumping on visitors). My parents’ dog has always been veeeerrrryyy mellow. He is not a jumper or ball chaser. And he has slowed down even more in his older age.

We dropped Sadie off Friday morning and she got right to business… drenching her entire face in Reilly’s water bowl and getting the floor soaking wet. I think my mom was a little appalled and probably wondering what the hell she had gotten herself into. As we drove to the airport, I turned to Christopher and asked: “Are my parents going to hate us after this?” Without hesitating he replied: “Probably.”

I was nervous initially but, sure enough, once we made our way to our friends’ apartment in DC, the dog was the last thing on my mind. I checked in a couple times throughout the weekend to make sure my parents didn’t, in fact, want to kill me. They assured me all was well. My impression is that Sadie is definitely more active and rambunctious that they are used to but that she was pretty well-behaved. I think they got to see how sweet Sadie can be underneath her entirely drenched exterior.

I can’t thank my parents enough for giving us the chance to enjoy a few days away. It was so nice to relax and catch-up with friends over amazing Indian food, crabs, tapas and wedding fare (… and of course, wash it all down with a few drinks). After four days of hotel rooms, huge restaurant bills and living out of a suitcase, it was also really nice to be back home.

Here are some photos from the trip:

Christopher and me, eating lunch dockside with friends in Baltimore