I'm leaving on a three-day business trip in the morning, which got me thinking about this topic. My non-dog-owned friends often ask me what I do with my dogs and cats when I travel. I feel really guilty, that's what. No, that's not really what I tell them. But I certainly do feel guilty.
I can take two kinds of trips: day trips where I'm gone 10-15 hours and overnight trips. With five dogs and three cats, each kind requires some different logistics.
The cats are really easy. For day trips, I just make sure they get some extra kibble in the morning, refill the communal water bowl (shared by all of the dogs and cats), clean the litter box, and off I go. For overnighters more than two days, I have my totally fab petsitters come visit. Tina is the one that comes most often. She leaves these long, handwritten notes with all sorts of details about who greeted her at the door and who seemed the most in need of some attention. Two of my cats are normally pretty shy. Bix is the exception. He is a total attention pig and is most often found weaving his way in between the dogs as they mill around visitors. But Lola and Bhumi LOVE Tina. She often reports being greeted at the door by them. They don't even greet ME at the door when I come home from work at the end of the day.
The dogs are more complicated, of course. Day trips are usually dog-competition related so I nearly always have at least two of the dogs with me. I arrange for those fab petsitters to come every 3-4 hours and let the remaining dogs out. Sure, they can hold their bladders for longer than that, but I figure, it's the weekend and if I were at home they'd be outside nearly all day, and I crate them while I am at work during the week (I come home for lunch every day; it's not the draconian sentence it seems), so I figure they deserve lots of attention and breaks from the crates during those weekend days when I have to travel. Since I'm a control freak, I leave these long, complex notes with instructions for dog management. Tina and Danielle are excellent at handling my dogs. Never had any problems. The dogs apparently love Tina as much as the cats do.
But now we come to the guilt part. Those overnight trips? That means...the kennel. It's a traditional kennel with concrete-floored runs with indoor and outdoor parts to each unit and chain link separating each run. I double up the dogs when I can but I am not sure that makes much of a difference. The tan and whites (that would be Jack and his daughters Mimi and Gracie) come home gaunt even though I send them with extra large food rations, and their pads are often blistered and bleeding. This is because they endlessly pace/run back and forth in their runs, barking and getting all wound up at every little sound and movement. It's a damned kennel--there is constant sounds and movement. I doubt the tan and whites sleep at all. Gracie and Jack often limp for days afterwards. Harry and Dyna fare better. They are not so excitable and I think they take it more in stride.
This is not the horror show that it sounds like. The kennel is quite clean and the prices are excellent. And it is almost exactly 5 miles from my house. Convenient hours. It's basic but is a safe place to put my dogs when I must leave home without them.
I've looked into three other kennels in the area. All of them require non-refundable deposits at the time of reservation! I don't know about you but my trips get rescheduled, rearranged, and even cancelled all the time. All of them house the dogs inside a building, taking them outside perhaps once a day. At least at the traditional place, the dogs can pop outside when they choose during the day and get some fresh air. Or bark. Or fence run. Sigh.
It's a tough position. I love my dogs, I spoil them terribly, but I also have this work thing I have to do to provide the funds to spoil them in that terrible manner. Work and sometimes even play require a bit of travel now and then. I feel guilty. I call the kennel every day when I'm traveling. And we all have a joyous celebration when I return home.
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