Monday, April 10, 2006

The Highly Anticipated Return of the Blackpuppy

I meant to talk about picking up Homer from the pet resort in yesterday's post, but I was so tired I could barely string two thoughts together. (And I apparently forgot to even post what I wrote yesterday until just now. Oops.) But as tired as I was, I had nothing on Homer. He has slept (and snored) almost continuously since I picked him up. I've included a stock photo of what Homer looks like when he is exhausted. I am too lazy right now to find the cord for the camera to download a new picture.
The kennel stay seems to have been a positive one for Homer. They were really busy with people picking up their dogs last night, so I did not get to talk to the kennel workers too much to find out how he did in detail. But while I was paying, the kennel worker started laughing and said all he wanted to do was play with the other dogs. I guess he spent all of his play time playing with the same four or five dogs. Homer adores playing with other dogs, so that probably made up for me leaving him there--especially since he has not got to play with other "friends" on a regular basis lately. Frankie is just too old to play hard, and his best friend Didge has been in Paris since September.

Homer actually seemed a little sad to leave the kennel. I watched as the handlers brought other dogs out to their owners'. A dog would come out, see his owner, and run to the master excitedly with tail wagging. I was reinacting my own tearful reunion in my head just as they brought out Homer. Did he come running to me in slow motion accompanied by Romantic string music, perhaps the "Love Theme" from Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet? Nope. He took a quick glance at me as if to say, "Oh, hi Daddy. Look! New People!" And he ran up to sniff and charm everyone but me. I then took his leash and put him in the car. As we were pulling away, he looked out the back window at the kennel and began crying. The damn dog did not want to leave! I was worried the entire drive home that he would be depressed for coming home. My fears were unfounded, though. As soon as he realized we were home, he got very excited and starting doing laps around the house. If you look at the picture, you will notice a string of drool on his nose. When Homer gets excited, he drools. Actually he drools most of the time, but he drools even more when he gets excited. And when he gets excited he somehow manages to get it all over his face. Kate had to wipe thick streams of drool off his face three times before he finally calmed down. I should have known better than to be worried. I started thinking about humans and their vacations. We probably experience similar feelings as Homer (with less drool). When we have a good time at Disney World, Paris, or wherever, we are usually sad to leave. We are having fun, there are no responsibilities, and there are lots of new butts to sniff. But it always feels wonderful to go back home to our own bed, bowl, and pee spot.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

I forgot to mention that I would recommend Halliday's Pet Resort to anyone interested. They took good care of Homer and really showed a genuine interest in the dogs. More tellingly, of the five or six other people that were there picking up their dogs, I was the only new customer. Most of them were talking about home much their dogs enjoyed going there. You can find a link to their webpage in a previous post.

morskyjezek said...

I guess that Homer didn't just sit around all weekend watching videos. I was wondering what he would do with a VCR (and rentals to boot)! Wasn't he tempted to catch up with all his favorite sitcoms?