Tuesday, April 29, 2014

On the Homefront

I knew that I was in for a greeting when I pulled up in the driveway last night and I could hear the crying and barking from inside the Lair before I even switched my engine off. They know my engine sound and they normally don't do this for me. But then I've never left them for five days before. Murphy has always come with me in the past except for the odd short trips, and Belle has never known a night without me since I took her in. Wisely, I put my bags down at the bottom of the stairs before climbing up and opening the door, where I was immediately hit by 160+lbs. of German Shepherds. But for the wall behind me, I'd have been knocked flat. I'm guessing that I was missed just a bit.

The leaping and the dancing and the crying and the licking went on for some time, and finally I just said "screw it" and got down on the floor with them to wrestle for a couple of minutes (at the cost of a t-shirt...thanks, Belle). It was good to see them again.

Murphy soon settled down and went back to his old ways, but I can see where he was biting at himself while I was gone, reverting back to his old anxiety issues. (Both the dog sitter and Cindy told me that he'd been doing it. Poor guy.) But Belle...wow. She would not leave my side all evening. All she wanted to do for hours was to sit next to or in front of me with her head on my lap and be reassured. When I went back outside just to unload my car, she WAILED. If she was this attached to the cretin who dropped her off at the dog pound back in November and walked away, I'm going to have to find him and kick his ass.

All is right at the Lair again.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous10:37 AM

    A similar homecoming experience here, save I was unable to attend, and the chihuahua puppy is 13 weeks. A whopping 3 1/2 pounds!
    But whining and crying all the same, after returning from the store.
    The older dogs don't care as much.
    :-)

    gfa

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  2. and this is why we have dogs. the unbridled love can't be compared. even if it comes with the ruination of the occasional clothing item.

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  3. Having a previous owner leave a dog can induce such separation anxiety (regarding Belle). She may not have had a problem before that...which is all the more reason to find him and nut him so hard he has to spit them out.

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  4. Dogs are very odd when it comes to dealing with separation. When each daughter went away to college, the first time each came home some weeks later, Phoebe would have nothing to do with them for hours on end. Wouldn't go near them and moved away if they approached.

    Once past that initial separation reaction, however, it was business as usual (frantic reuniting with lots of excitement, licking, and tracking down of toys to be dropped at feet).

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