In an effort to avoid creating travel-related fear/worry triggers for Lilly, I’m being beyond careful in my BlogPaws planning and packing this week. I do not want Lilly to associate things like suitcases or certain changes in my behavior with me leaving. We know, already, her abilities at pattern recognition.
Am I being overly cautious?
Maybe.
But, I’ve never left Lilly overnight before. (It’s sad, but true. There are many reasons, including having not yet found a suitable kennel.)
My strategies, so far, include:
- Keeping the suitcase in the closet
- Making clothes selections and packing look like usual laundry tasks
- Doing as much prep as I can when she is outside playing or otherwise occupied
Due to an O’dark-early flight Friday, I’ll have to leave the house well before anyone is usually awake around here. I haven’t yet decided if I’ll smooch on my girl before I leave (and risk a weepy goodbye) or if I’ll just slip out and let Tom tell her I’m gone later.
When he has traveled, I usually just tell her he is gone so that she won’t look for him and get frustrated. She adjusts well to his absence, but I’m not sure how she’ll do without me for a few days. Tom plans on letting both dogs sleep in bed while I’m gone, so that should assuage any sadness … for all of them.
Our dogs recognize what suitcases mean, but they don’t mind since it just means they go stay with my mom which they think is fun.
One of our dogs also recognized a sign that we would be coming back to get him. My mom put the bins with their food by their sliding glass door and he parked himself there and wouldn’t move. Our plane was delayed and the dogs ended up staying another night and he refused to leave the door and go to bed with everyone, convinced we were coming any minute.
I’ll try, Susan. I tend to get weepy, though. Especially when it’s painfully early. I will do my best to suck it up, though, so that I don’t make things worse … after all my hard, sneaky work this week.
My dog used to go on a hunger strike when I would leave, but lately he hasn’t seemed to notice. It gets easier with every trip.
Everybody’s giving you great ideas. Chances are you won’t be able to totally get away with getting away — Lilly’s a smart girl — so being as matter-of-fact as possible is the best Plan B you can create, IMO.
I haven’t left Marge over night yet, either, and I am very scared to – so, I’m really interested to see how it goes with Lilly. Tom seems like such a good Dad to her – I bet it’ll be okay.
Thanks, Kerri. Ginko saw the suitcase last night, and he seemed to understand what it means. Lilly didn’t see it, that I know of, but she spent the whole night in the basement. I hope she was tired and NOT upset.
That’s a good point, KB. Maybe I’ll just put the suitcase out in the car before we wake her up. That way, it’ll look like a normal I’m-leaving scenario.
I bet that you can’t sneak out on Fri morning without Lily noticing… so it would be better to give her a non-dramatic good-bye like you’re heading to town for a little while (if it’s your routine to say goodbye).
Funny, since packing can mean that we’re going camping, our dogs just watch us like hawks but don’t get upset when packing commences. They think that camping is a VERY good thing!
Avoiding these triggers is a good idea. My mom’s dogs used to get upset when they would see her suitcase. I think the key is finding a situation in which they are happy while we’re away. If my dogs know what it means when our suitcases come out, we can’t tell it. I’m not so sure they don’t love their pet nanny as much as they love us! 🙂 Have a good trip at that dog blogging conference!