A Family Holiday From A Dog's Perspective.

Going to Oma & Opa for a stint...

Family holidays are great stuff except for the family dog. Well not always, if one is blessed with parents living close by. Yet, for the dog it might seem like second prize, visiting Oma and Opa instead of the beach or some such exotic location.

Don't get me wrong, it is super to have someone who is familiar with your dog, look after it but from the dog's perspective, things are different. Even for us, visiting grandparents isn't the same as visiting parents. Not for lack of love, but each generation has its own set of rules and strictures which somehow don't bode to well for a dog.

Cuddling a lot, yes, but jumping on beds and sleeping there....not a chance. Unlike the younger set, the older generation has enough backbone to counteract any subversive paw slowly edging towards that attractive bed. One could say, that grandparents had eyes in the back of their heads!

Yesterday I went to see one of the these dog sitting grandparents. As we were chatting, she mentioned that they were looking after the dog ( an adventure in itself ) and the subject of sleeping on the bed came up...not in the dog's favour of course. But she told me that the dog got so much more attention than normal including lots of cuddling. Young families lead such busy lives that unless the dog's a puppy, it now tends to reside on the peripheral of mind and house.

Anyway, I have seen this dog often in his own house and when he greeted me at his Oma's front door, there was surprise and joy. In fact, we had an elongated cuddling while he pressed closely against my legs ( heart melting stuff, I have to admit ), with alternating flips onto his back ( not so easy for an older dog ) with all four legs excitedly flaying my way as I scratched the stomach. Too cute, but the cutest and most interesting bit for me was the accompanying chin wag.

Since setting eyes on me, this delightful dog was doing his best to speak to me in dog language. Not barks but little yips and yaps of varying pitches. Either he was to tell me that life was stricter here or that he was simply missing his family and was asking me when they would be back to fetch him...By the way, I talked in a high pitched voice too...

When I left a while later, there was no rush to come home with me, no, this cute dog just lay on the floor doing absolutely nothing but enjoying his own holiday of sorts.

Biggi