Basil & Daycare

Let's talk about this guy for a few minutes. The furry one, that is...

We were reunited with him early Saturday morning after being away for a week in NYC. I guess "reunited" might sound a little much, but it felt that way after only a week away — isn't it funny how pets can work their way into your lives and hearts in ways you never imagined?

When Tim and I need to go away overnight where Basil can't come along for the trip, we have a couple of options that work for us. On occasion one of our parents might keep him for an evening or overnight if things work out but more frequently we'll take him to an overnight daycare we've grown to love. It's located right across from The Diamond here in RVA and is called Diamond Dog House.

When we know we'll be going away, we'll usually take him to this all day doggie daycare where he can run, play and generally wear himself out before sleeping overnight in the daycare facilities.

The doggie daycare is so good at getting him exercise and playtime that sometimes if we know we'll be going out to dinner or to a local event, we'll just take him there for a half day so all he'll want to do is sleep when he gets home and we go out without any worries — it's a win win. He gets a full day of fun and play, wants to pass out when he gets home and we don't feel guilty that he might be bored or scared all alone at home.

Typically one or two nights in a row at doggie daycare seems like the perfect recipe but when it gets to be longer than that, Tim and I both tend to stress out a little. It's strange the way the separation anxiety has transferred over to us when we go away.

One thing we love about the doggie daycare we take Basil to is how they take photos of each of the dogs that stay each day and post them on their Facebook page — it's like a cute way to check up on what your pup was doing the day they were there. This is one way we know that Basil is still playing, sleeping and generally loving life while we're gone.

Here are the shots of Basil over the past week — they go from playful to what we think is flat out tired and ready to come home:

 

 

By Friday, he just looked plain worn out, though maybe just sunbathing?

By the end of the week we were just so ready to come get him and bring him home where he could relax. By the look of those last few photos we were wondering if he was homesick, but when we picked him up he was as energetic and playful as ever when we got home — before going into the big 2 day puppy crash! Since I work from home on the computer all day, Tim likes to say that Basil is going to get a "big puppy sloth day" with mommy throughout the coming week (since he gets to just hang out and sleep all day).

So that's how we handle going out of town when we can't take our big guy with us. We're still entertaining the idea of trying to find a a pet-friendly apartment on AirBNB for one of our future NYC trips so we can take him with us at some point.

For now, we're all just happy to be home together.

We'd love to know what you do with your pets when you go on a long vacation. Do you have family, friends or neighbors who always keep them or come by to check on them? Have you taken your dog to a doggie daycare or have a favorite go-to place that does special things for your pets? We're always trying to come up with new ideas and solutions.