Vacation over, time to return to routine life and my best friend, Nadi

The vacation of mine is over and I am back to routine life. I can't say that I am really all that disappointed about it being over and I discovered something about myself while I was away for these 10 days. For one thing, I really missed my dog and was very happy to get back to her and she was just beside herself with glee that I was back to get her. I think that my dog suffers from rather severe separation anxiety and doesn't really know what to do if I am not around. That makes me feel good I guess so I was rather happy to be back around her and she slept really close to me and followed me everywhere for the next 24 hours after I returned.

I didn't expect the people that were watching her to bathe her or cut her hair so she was very stinky. I gave here a bit of time to settle in and didn't want to "punish" her with a bath straight away but after a bunch of belly rubs, a long walk, and some treats, we unfortunately had to get her in the tub. She is a very compliant bather even though she hates it and even though she is kind of afraid of the hair dryer immediately after exiting the tub she will run over to the hair trying area because she knows that is part of the process.

For the next few days she would not let me out of her sight and while I don't have a huge apartment or anything, this would include following me any time i went to the other room and even sitting and watching me while I was in the bathroom. Every time I would take a shower she was always lying down in the entrance of the bathroom, waiting for me to finish. I live alone so I don't really ever close the bathroom door but this sort of behavior isn't normal for her. She hates water, so coming so close to it just to keep an eye on me was pretty touching.

The above picture is her very near my work desk and she was watching me like a hawk the entire time.

If I ever put on some shoes she would get into full panic mode because she has learned over the years that this means that I am about to leave the house and of course, she views all of these departures as an opportunity for US to go somewhere, not just me on my own.

Of course every single meal that I have she is going to watch every single bite that I take with a great sense of envy. I don't give my dog a lot of human food but provided there aren't any bones involved seeing as how she nearly died once because of some KFC, I will let her be the vacuum cleaner for the area in front of where I eat. She doesn't beg so to speak, but she will stare at me with those sad eyes from start to finish. I think it breaks her heart a little bit when I don't give her any of it but normally, I will let her have a tiny piece of bread or something like that.

Nadi is 11 years old and she has always had a sensitive tummy and is also allergic to certain kinds of spices, so I have to be very careful about what I feed her else she is going to have that gagging reflex later on that if you are a dog owner, you already know that this is the most powerful alarm clock in existence.

While I was away Nadi stayed with some friends of mine that have 2 dogs already. These are larger dogs that could hurt Nadi if they wanted to but the dogsitters assured me that this would not happen. They told me that Nadi was rather stand-offish with both of them and if they tried to play with her she would get upset with them. I sometimes wish that Nadi was playful but for all of her life she has not spent much time around other dogs and therefore doesn't really know how to play. Mostly she just wants them to stay away from her. I found it kind of funny that they would tell me that their dogs would frequently bring some of their toys to Nadi and just lie them down near her trying to make her feel better or to be happy. I truly believe that dogs have a way of sensing things that we cannot comprehend and this is why your dog can tell if you are sad.... I think they can also sense this in other dogs.

Since returning I have made a few visits to my local pub and I always bring her with me since it is just around the corner and she probably needs to cover all the posts and hydrants with her pee anyway. She is a bit of a celebrity at this place and is quite welcome there. I think more of the patrons know who she is than they do me. I'm fine with that.

As happy as I am to be back around Nadi I think that me being around her just puts her at ease and she has been making a lot of fantastic sleeps in her various beds including her favorite, the banana bed. As a reward for being so good while I was gone we are going to go shopping for yet another doggy bed and this time I think I will splash out for one of the really high quality ones that are made in Korea.

I enjoyed my vacation but I think that I am just a guy that likes to stay local these days. I want my dog to be with me and I have already decided that if I do go on a vacation in the first half of this year, it is going to have to be to a destination that my dog can come with me.