No wonder I feel at home on this travel board. We have bred and shown wheaten terriers since 1987 and here in San Diego I never could find a pet sitter I was comfortable with.

My husband could never understand my trepidation so I nagged him until we bought an rv and for 24 years have traveled the US and Canada with the dogs (our kids are grown and back East).

Our last dog Missy went to the rainbow bridge in August at 13 1/2. I still am teary-eyed when I think of her You probably know what I mean.

It's so nice to know others feel the same. Whenever we went anywhere even for an evening out I would worry about the dogs. I thought when Missy died I would feel relief that we could travel but I wasn't prepared for the emptiness of the house without a dog. There is a pet hotel in a mall near me and once a week I go there to watch the dogs at play.

I wish I had been on this board when the dogs were with us. We had thought about taking the last one to Europe but then read about quarantines and it turned us off. Besides. the plane ride from here is just so very long.

Thanks for letting me rant.

lois,
when we daydream about spending a year in Europe, I start figuring out which country would be best for Pup LOL which sadly leaves out England, and pushes us towards France. ((&))

The cost to take care of my dog is figured into my travel. My mom takes care of him but I pay a dog walker $15 a walk, it is well worth it for my peace of mind.

loisco -- we have a wheaten terrier named Murphy that we feel terrible leaving at home when we go to the grocery store! He is a "love sponge" who suffers from separation anxiety, or so it seems.

We hate to leave our "tiny terrorist" behind, but he goes to my sister-in-law's where he is spoiled rotten and we go on our way knowing he is in good hands. But we miss him.
((c))

When we had a darling dog I always felt upset about leaving her. And twice when we put in here in highly recommended kennel she returned home with what my DH called a "kennel cough".

I do not have a pet now and so do not have that worry. But I sure remember when I did.

Thanks to all of you for your sympathy last May. And I give mine to any of you who are losing or have lost your loved pets. Our darling Daph had to be put to sleep about a week before we were scheduled [frequent flyer tickets] to go to London and Italy. It was almost as though she planned it so we could go. She was barely tolerating the kidney disease and treatment when she was diagnosed with colon cancer. We won't get another pet as it would outlive us at our ages. And she was a stray [an Applehead Siamese] who started coming through our yard in 1989. She was our 6th! And we loved them all but we adored her. Everywhere I look in our house or garden makes me sad because they were all her spots. I saw a lot of Italy through tears. She was just a cat.

Not in the least. We feel close to our pets, but the biggest mistake pet owners make is to indulge in anthropormorphism. I used to worry about the python, but gave that up when I noticed that he didn't leap into our arms when we got home. As punishment I reduced his cat ration.

In 2003 we went to Europe for 9 weeks. I don't know what was worse. The worry of leaving our darling King Charles Cavilier Spaniel, who had a bad leg and severe epilepsy, or the worry of leaving our three children with the responsibility of looking after a very ill dog. My fears were realised when I was awoken at 3 a.m. in Sorrento by my children (eldest aged 24) crying hysterically that Bonnie had had 3 fits and was unconscious. We spent an extremely emotional day waiting to see if she would be OK. Thankfully, she did not die whilst we were away, but passed away last January.

LoveItaly, any pet owner knows how you feel, read this poem about Rufus, I keep it on my desk.
http://www.showdog-magazine.com/chicken/soul4.htm

Sorry for your loss!

As much as we love to travel, I hate leaving pets behind. Maybe that's one of the reasons I haven't gone away for more than a week and a half at a time. (That and $$ and time!)It's so welcoming to come home to our pets. We just lost our 16 year old diabetic cat this fall and our upcoming trip has me worried about the brother cat, who has been lonely and spoiled rotten by us. We have a very nice neighbor take care of the pets, but she only stops in for a few minutes a day.(We also have hamsters and gerbils, and believe it or not, we miss them too!) After all, why have a pet unless you're going to love it.

adoptionisfab,
Thank you for that poem about Rufus..as I wipe the tears from my face :)

We have two golden retrievers, who are our "babies", and one cat, and yes, I hate leaving them when we go away.

Luckily, though, we've found a fabulous housesitter who dotes on them, and then we also have a wonderful dogwalker who comes during the day for additional playtime.

It's sort of like having two hotel bills to pay: one for us, and one for the animals.

Gosh, I knew I shouldn't have read this thread!**sniff**

I love my dog beyond reason. I've had him since he was six weeks old and it was over eleven years since I took a vacation, part of the reason being that I didnt want to leave him. That sounds so silly now that I think about it.

So, when my bf gave me the opportunity to go to London last year, I thought for a split-second "I can't go. Who'll take care of my dog?". Again, silly.

So my brother agreed to take care of them (my dog - a Dobie - and an inherited Shih-Tzu). I dropped them off two days before we were to leave so they could become accustomed to his house. They love him, so being with him wasn't the problem.

I'll be honest, I cried when I left them. It broke my heart so see those big brown eyes staring at me from the window and his ears at full attention, watching me drive away. My brother said he cried all night.

Then, the next day, I called to see how they were. Big mistake! I felt horribly guilty. But, the plans were in place.

I came home to find out that the dogs not only adjusted, but made themselves quite at home. The Dobie conned my brother out of so many treats and the Shih-Tzu made herself comfortable on his bed most of the time (she's not allowed on the bed at home).

When I came to pick them up, the Dobie greeted me, then promptly returned to my brother's side - the traitor! They had a great time. Now, when they see my brother when he comes to our house, they greet him even more heartily than before.

They'll be returning to "Camp Uncle Tommy" when we travel again, and my guilt has subsided. Of course, they get a souvenir and so does Tom for taking care of them.

I'm lucky that I don't have to put them in a kennel. Thanks to my brother, I can travel without worry.

what bothers me most is that pets usually know when to expect their owner to return at a certain time of the day. when i travel i fear mine think i have abandoned them or that i died or somthing.it would be more reassuring if i could 'explain' it to them.but in a way i leave them with other pets with my relatives so maybe they see it as living in a hotel in a foreign place too?

Ah... to know you are not alone...
I left 2 cats in the care of my roommate last year for a 11 day trip to South America. Mrs. Jones, the friendly old lady neighbor, knocked on the door one day to tell her something was wrong with Bingo. They got the other next-door neighbor, who, thankfully, was a vet and her husband. All 4 of them sat in the driveway with Bingo holding him, petting him and talking to him until he passed away. :o( My non-animal-loving roommate called her mother and all of our friends crying. The next problem: do we tell her now or wait till she comes home? My friends emailed for days back & forth about what to do. They decide to wait. Then I emailed another friend to make sure the roomie was taking care of the cats. Drama again for them. I found out when I got home since he did not come when called (he thought he was a dog because my sister used to call him “puppy-cat”). The vet neighbor had taken Bingo and done an autopsy (who knew?!) and he had died of heart failure. He was 11. The vet and husband cried and hugged me when I went to see them and told me how much they loved him and wanted to keep him if I'd ever moved. Can you ask for better neighbors than that?!?!?
So, you can imagine I was a little apprehensive to leave Cat (yes, that’s her name) alone this year for another trip to South America. She is now 11 also and is SUPER co-dependent since we lost Bingo and I felt terrible about leaving her. I got a pet-sitter who is also the groomer at my vet and everything worked out fine this year. I also asked my brother to stop by a few times, but I don’t think he actually did! I paid her $10/day and I verified she spent some time and brushed her by the piles and piles of cat fur in the garbage can! When I went to pay her, she said she fell in love with Cat and thought she was just the sweetest thing. I will definitely use her in the future and feel a little less guilty about leaving. I definitely make sure to go to the vet prior to going on vacation now just for a “check-up” and realize that I probably could not have handled being with Bingo when he died, but I know for sure he knew he was loved by me and our neighbors because they stayed with him and told him so!
My boyfriend got a puppy the day we got home 3 weeks ago, so maybe he will not make as much fun of me when we leave on our next trip. He will see what it’s like now!

adaptionisfab, thank you so much for posting that website. I enjoyed it so much, although must confess it brought tears to my eyes. Even though our little dear has been gone for some time I still miss her so much. A little spoiled princess! LOL.


We had a boat up in the Delta (N.Ca.). All we had to do was say "boat" and she would run to the closet and start barking. That was where the duffel bags were to pack for our boat plus her leash.

And she never did learn to take a walk without getting burs (sp?) in her nose and ears. Thank goodness my DH could get them out.

Pets, a joy for the heart. ((*))

I am glad you enjoyed the poem about Rufus, I keep it at my desk and read it whenever I need a good cry. It is also helpful when your dog passes over the rainbow bridge. I only take in OLD dogs so it happens alot.

adoptionisfab, just read your latest post. My daughter in S.Ca and her husband do that also. The sad thing is in the last 18 months they lost all 4 of their dogs. A real traumatic time. And they also lost their cat (a real hellion that cat was but he and I had a special relationship). Normally he fled and hid when anybody else was in the house but I could not even sit to eat without his making a running start and leaping on my lap. It was too precious. Take good care.

just got back from a short trip, felt terrible about leaving my cat, though I arranged for caregivers and visitors while I was away.

If pets supposedly have no sense of time, does that mean they feel we've been gone only a minute, or infinitely long?

I have never believed for a minute that pets (dogs anyway) have no sense of time. We used to feed our dog at 5:30 pm. Believe me, she let us know if we were even the slightest bit late! We also used to walk her around 1:30 pm. About 1:15 pm, she would park herself by the front door, no matter what we were doing. If we weren't out the door by 1:45 pm, we heard about it.
Also, it's well known among English cocker breeders and owners that 5 hours is roughly the maximum time the breed can be left alone on a regular basis before they start to get stressed (it has nothing to do with needing to relieve themselves). After 5 hours, separation anxiety starts to set in (a condition this breed is prone to).