Crazy Dog Lady

I have excellent news! I can scratch one item off of my list! Drum roll please… On Friday I took Lola to doggy daycare.  My hubs and I were working all day and then he was leaving to go out of town.  I was going to a Reds game so I felt bad that she would be home alone all day, less about 2 hours.  A few months ago I had been told that a guy that works with me takes his dog to daycare a couple of times a week so I asked him about it.  It’s a place a couple of minutes from work that doesn’t kennel them and you can do 24 hour drop-off (which I need since I had to drop her at 6am).  The best part of the place, though, is that there are webcams. I’ve kept this place in mind for a while but never actually pulled the trigger.  When I found out on Thursday that both of us would be gone all day I thought that this was the time to try it. The entire day I pummeled my co-worker with questions about the place: Do they have water? How do they discipline them? How often do they let them out? Etc. etc…etc. etc. I actually called them after work to get my questions answered that he couldn’t.  I started feeling okay about doing it.

The following morning my alarm went off at 5am I got myself and the pup ready and we headed off.  The place was pretty easy to find, minus my bad eyesight and turning onto the wrong street.  I parked, went up to the door and hit the doorbell, which caused lots of barking.  A girl opened the door for me and Lola and I walked in.  The girl took Lola from me immediately and put her in the holding room (which looked like a closet).  She came back to me to do my paperwork.  The entire time I was standing there with the lady Lola was whining and jumping up to see out of the window in the door.  To be completely honest, my heart was breaking a bit.  I mean I knew she would have fun but I felt like I didn’t get to hug her and say goodbye (like she really knows what that means) and that she was whining to get to me.

I drove away a little sad but I was rushing in order to get to my desk and put on the webcam.  I have two monitors at work so all day I worked on one while Lola was on the other (luckily, I have a nice work that doesn’t accuse me of being a slacker by doing this). Everyone in my organization found out about the doggy daycare and the webcams so multiple times that day people stopped by to check on her. Which meant me trying to figure out which dog was her and watching her run around.  She didn’t sit down the entire day (even at naptime, shocker!).

I was relieved when the clock struck 3pm and I was able to run out the door and speed to the daycare.  I told the front desk I was there to pick up Lola so she walk-talkied someone and told her to find Lola.  The lady couldn’t find her.  In their defense there are about 20-30 dogs there and they don’t wear any kind of identification so I’m not sure how they know who is who. Also, the girl who had been there all day was leaving so the person trying to find Lo had just arrived.  It took her about 15 minutes to find her.  While standing there, the girl who had been there all day was clocking out and she said, “Are you picking up Lola?” I said yes and she said, “Just so you know, she has worms.” Talk about feeling like a bad parent.  I was shocked. The girl seemed so judgey about it too it made me feel horrible. 

They finally brought her out and I got to the car and immediately called the vet.  They were pretty casual about it (which made me feel better) and just said we don’t need to see her, just come and pickup some meds.  So, I sped there, thinking that my poor baby was suffering (I know nothing about this).  Also, Lo was acting super weird.  I mean I know she was tired but when she came out she didn’t seem happy to see me and just seemed weird.

After picking her up and heading to the vet, we arrived safely home.  Lo basically ran to the door.  She ran to her water bowl and drank like half of it.  I’m not sure what their water policy is but now I’m worried that they kept her thirsty the entire day but maybe it was just from playing… I have to do more investigation. After that she clumped to the floor.  I gave her the meds and she slept until I left for the Reds game.

The next day I woke up and Lo had slept in. Yay for being tuckered out but she was still acting a little weird. I let her outside and the weird thing was that she was worm-free.  The vet had told me that dead ones would probably be visible even after taking the pill.  So now, I’m thinking that I have overmedicated my already exhausted and weird-acting dog because the daycare got her confused with another dog.  I’m not sure how I feel about this.  I mean, maybe I’m wrong and this pill miraculously solved the problem and she no longer shows signs.  Or maybe, they just honestly mistook her for another dog.  I’m not sure but I don’t know if I should be angry or understanding.  What would a good mother do?  Should I call and complain? Never take her there again? Or just say oh well, she is new, this stuff happens?

Also, I told my mother-in-law last night about how Lola acted weird for a couple of days afterwards.  She said, well she was old enough to remember being at the pound so maybe that’s what she thought was going on.  Again, I feel like a horrible mother! Did she think I was abandoning her?  Then I think maybe I’m crazy and dogs don’t really have thoughts like that, I don’t know.  I’m torn and think I can never handle a child after this traumatic experience. J

 Lola's First Day of School! (Sorry for the bad image quality)

 Lola after her first day of school...