Coming Back to Hurt Pets After Vacation

When Wayne and I went on our vacation to Alaska, we boarded Murphy in a “pet resort.” A neighbor watched the cats for us. (She graciously offered to watch Murph, too, but we didn’t want to overwhelm her. She has four kids, school had only started the week before so they were still getting back in that groove, plus she has two dogs –one of which is a new puppy with potty training problems– and a cat of her own. We didn’t want to add having to walk Murph four times a day to her To Do list.) Separation Anxiety … Continue reading

Would You Know Your Dog?

Have you heard about the people who boarded their dog at a kennel while they went on vacation, but when they went to pick up their dog it wasn’t theirs? Or so they suspected. I first saw it on Inside Edition last week. The man, Ken Griggs, picked up his black lab and noticed on the ride home that the dog was more mellow than normal. It looked like his dog, sure, but it didn’t act like his Callie. After a little while longer he was pretty sure the dog he’d picked up wasn’t his. He asked the kennel about … Continue reading

Planning for Pets When Emergencies Call You Away: A Checklist

Yesterday I wrote about what we’d do with our pets if an emergency called us away. Do you know what you’d do? Do you have a plan in place? If not, I created a list of things to think about and prepare for ahead of time. 1) If you take your pets with you, will you have a place to stay that welcomes them too? If you won’t be staying with relatives (or can’t), make a list of pet-friendly hotels in the area. (Before you need them, but confirm the pet-friendly status still exists when you book your room.) Use … Continue reading

Code Red: Planning for Pets When Emergencies Call You Away

This has been in the back of my mind for a while now because Wayne’s grandparents are in their mid-80s and my parents are in their mid-70s. They all live in Denver, and while Wayne’s grandparents are relatively healthy, my parents have both been struggling with increasingly declining health. So I’ve been trying to put some plans in place in case we get the worst call any person can ever get. Just yesterday I asked Wayne what we would do in such an emergency. “You shouldn’t think like that. You attract what you think about, you know.” “I know, but … Continue reading