Nervous Nelly

OK, I admit it.. I’m a nervous wreck. Yesterday was the first time the hounds have been left alone all day.

I have various options to “store” the hounds during the day such as the basement or the crates, but I don’t want to have them confined for such a long period of time. Before Cy, we used to crate Karson and Mickey when we left the house, but this was never for extended periods. Neither Mickey nor Karson mind the crates at all, and often insisted on being in the XXL crate together. Once Cy arrived and got a taste of free roam, he started to really dislike the confines of the crate, so we quit crating all together thinking it was not fair to crate some and not others.

Yesterday it was up at 6, walk the hounds, FOOD, ice shower, and walk again. I was torn with what to do with the pups, and decided that they would be left with free roam of the house. All day I was a wreck worrying about the dogs, the stuff, and the hardwood floors. Cy barks at anything that moves which gets the other two excited. I had thoughts of Cy running around the house, barking and growling at the leaves blowing in the yard, and agitating the others into a seek and destroy mission.

At noon, I struggled with taking a trip home to check on the pups and turn them out, but I resisted the temptation. By 4:00pm I was totally locked in a worst case thoughts loop. I couldn’t concentrate on anything and still had an hour’s work left to go. By 4:30pm I couldn’t take it anymore and left for home.

Traffic was unusually horrendous even for Birmingham which is 2^nd only to Mexico City for traffic nightmares. On the way home, I hit every red light on the route as well as every construction zone, school zone, and traffic collision. There were lines of traffic stopped for no apparent reason what so ever, and at one point, the line I was in started to move backwards. Adonkey pulling a cart actually passed me while I was stranded behind the circus caravan from which two monkeys and a llama had escaped, and the guy driving the cart shook his fist in my general direction in the most ironic case of roadrage ever encountered.

Finally, I turned on to our street and could see our house in the distance. It was still standing, and not surrounded by fire trucks as I thought it surely would be. I pulled into the garage and could hear the happy dance of twelve paws tapping excitedly on the floors above. I rushed up the stairs fully expecting to find the place in shambles, blood everywhere from some nasty wound caused by climbing into the kitchen cupboards, and piles and puddles of horror all over the floors.. Nothing.. Perfect, happy, excited hounds at the door..Whew.. Relief.. Good Pups.. What Good Doggys!!

Today, I let them roam free again.. It’s just before noon now, I’m going to go and check on them for my sanity, they couldn’t care less.