A Dog's Life

As I sit here covered in dog hair, I am thinking back to this morning. I was awakened by my 7 month old malamute, Maysie at about 6:15 am. Much too early for a Saturday. I begrudgingly stumbled out of bed and took her for a walk.

How is it that dogs find such joy in a walk around the same block everyday? I guess there is some metaphor to be learned like: "Stop and smell the roses" or "Find pleasure in the small things". It is amazing that the same tree can hold such fascination day after day. Clearly there are some doggie things I can't begin to understand, not the least of which is the appreciation of another dog's urine smell.

After our walk we headed north about 45 minutes for our doggie day care interview. Why drive so far for this? The answer is simple, it's near work. I made sure to bring the 9 pages of forms I had painstakingly filled out. I wasn't sure how to feel about having to fill out 9 pages of information on my pup. I understand the vaccination record from the vet, but I didn't know whether to feel pleased that someone wanted to know such intimate detail about my dog or insulted that I was being accused of bringing some wild beast to ravage their peaceful coexistence.

At first thought you may think that this dog-care facility just wants to learn as much as they can about my dog so they can give her the best day care experience. That was MY first thought. But I had visited another doggie day care a week ago and they immediately jumped right in, accepted my dog and couldn't have been nicer or more accommodating. All they asked for was her shot record from the vet. My dog spent 2 days, 6 hours at a time, at the second facility and had the time of her life. It was clean, staffed with highly professional and experienced dog-care practitioners, and they presented me with a "report card" at the end of each day.

Why bother going through with the interview today? The philosophy of the thorough interview center better matches what I believe is best for my dog -- play, rest, play, nap, play, rest. The first facility lets the dogs play all the time with no scheduled or required down time. They figure dogs will rest when they're tired. I guess it is the public school (highly scheduled) philosophy vs the Montessori Method (choice/interest-based). Both places are way into my dog and dogs in general.

The 1.5 hour interview went well; my dog is in. But scheduling is a bit more of an effort with this place. We're trying it out this week. I'll guess we'll see how things work out.