Dilemma

This is the Eugene, OR that I love.  This morning was a bit overcast and cloudy, but most of it burned off by early afternoon, leaving only a few puffy white clouds to break up the wide blue sky.  With temperatures in the low seventies, this was my kind of day.

We spent several hours working on Therapy.  After a week living in the MH with two dogs, a thorough cleaning was in order.  I have practically every surface in the MH covered with blankets or throw rugs and even covered the entire living area with a room sized carpet.  Still, Rusty managed to find the very small uncovered space on the bedroom carpet, and that is where he lost his lunch!  As he was trying to get outside when he finished yakking on Poppy’s bed.  All this was several days ago and was cleaned as best I could under the circumstances.  Poppy refused to lay in her bed for a full day until I did some additional cleaning of it!

So today all the throw rugs came out, all the blankets, pillows, sheets, towels, dog beds, dog blankets…it all came out and is in the process of going through the washer and dryer.  Windows were washed on the inside (outside, tomorrow!!), vents and screens vacuumed, mirrors and flat surfaces cleaned, floors swept and vacuumed and mopped.  We are not quite finished but we made some great progress.  We got too tired too soon!!

In the meantime, Poppy was enjoying having access to her favorite napping spot.

Yes, she likes to sleep in the bathtub.  When the fireworks start, as they will any day now and continue for a full month, we turn on the fan to block the noise and she feels safe in there.  I think she likes it also because the tub feels cold on her back.

And Rusty was participating in one of his favorite activities…trying to catch the bubbles from the pump return in the swimming pool.


When he gets bored with that, he continues to try and find a way to get into the pool without using the steps.  A nice, gradual incline would work well for him…he likes to know where the bottom is.

As much as he likes the water, he will not get into the pool.  He fell into the deep end when he was a young dog and I had to rescue him.  I think that did it for him.  Even when a raccoon jumped into the pool to get away from him, Rusty was smart enough to stay out of the water.

So, here’s my dilemma.

Rusty clearly loves his home.  He can come and go as he pleases through the pet door.  He can chase squirrels and birds, play with the pool, sleep on the sofa (or one of his many beds scattered throughout the house), and try to intimidate the cat.  He is never tied up and only needs a leash when we go on walks.  His food can stay down without someone stepping in it, and he has a choice of several water bowls.









These are photos I took of one of my rhodies before we left.  I knew the bloom wouldn’t last long and would probably be faded before our return.





Poppy really doesn’t care about the freedom to go in and out so much but she does like her “safe room” and her bathtub.  BTW, we do have three showers besides the bathtub so we are able to keep ourselves clean without using Poppy’s tub LOL!!!  There are no campfires here (well, not very often anyway and she can always hide in the tub), she can take a nap on our bed when she gets tired of the tub and she has several other beds she can use.  She can have dry food down all the time and lots of water bowls. 

I really love my purple Lupine.

When we bought Therapy, one of our reasons was to be able to travel with the dogs.  I think we should have consulted with the dogs!  Poppy clearly loves to go on short rides and is a great traveler, but she misses the comforts of home.  Rusty is a reluctant traveler, but still very well behaved.  He just wants to be with me and so he travels in order to do that.  All in all, he would rather be home and unchained, and able to go in and out at will.  Rusty gest a little car sick and so eats very little when we travel.  He never knows when the house is going to start moving and so his stomach is never really settled.









This rhodie is actually even more red than it appears here.  The other flowers are some I rescued from the trash at Wal-Mart last year.  I think they’re lovely and deserved to live!




I don’t think the dogs want to travel like we do.  I think maybe I have been selfish in taking them with us.  I love to have them around and perhaps if they were younger, they could adapt more easily.  But Poppy is 13, and Rusty will turn 14 next month.  That’s pretty old for dogs.  Since we are not full timers, we have a few options but none of them are really fun to think about.

We could stay home with them until their lives are over.  For Rusty, I have a feeling that won’t be so very far in the future.  He just doesn’t feel well most of the time and has lost a lot of weight this past year.  The vet says he is fine but we haven’t run a lot of tests on him other than the usual annual tests.  It’s more a matter of he is just getting old.  Poppy has separation anxiety so she would like that staying home option just fine.

We can take Poppy and leave Rusty since she is the better traveler.  But that is not a very happy solution either.

The purple rhodie was not quite all the way open before we left.  It looks better now but I haven’t been out to get a new photo of it.

We can leave both dogs at home.  We are fortunate enough to have my nephew as a pet and house sitter.  He is not a kid (he’s 24) and he does a great job, but he is not “Daddy or Mommy”.  He doesn’t spoil them like we do.  The dogs love him but I know they miss us from their reaction when we come home.  Chris is a college student and piano teacher so he is not here as much as we are.  Yes, my dogs are spoiled, but they are old and they have given us many happy hours and all of their love and loyalty throughout the years.  I feel I owe them the same.

How can I think of leaving them?  It’s a hard choice and one I have not yet come to grips with.  We have a 3-4 week trip to Yellowstone and the Tetons planned for this fall and I just cannot see having two big dogs cooped up in the motorhome for that length of time.  Yet leaving them for that long seems untenable.  I know they will be better off at home and we would be freer to enjoy the places where dogs are not allowed.  I just don’t know what to think.

I know a lot of you have dogs…of all shapes and sizes.  Some of you have larger rigs and more space than we do.  Some may have a smaller space.  What do you do with your dogs when you want to go to a museum or a movie?  Most parks say don’t leave the dogs unattended inside the rig as they don’t want to deal with barking.  Leaving them in a car for long periods of time is not an answer, especially in the summer.  What do you do when your pet no longer wants to travel?  How do you deal with aging pets who are happier at home?  Does anyone have some advice or words of wisdom here?  I know ya’ll are not shy about expressing your opinions so give it your best shot – I asked for it!!