Being Asked to Leave Our Sheepies at Home
The one that caught my eye was the last one - "You are welcome, but the dog is not." I think I'm safe in saying that, for pretty much all of us on this list, our sheepies are very much part of the family, but I was curious - is it really that big an offense to be asked to leave them at home? Our Benson is very well behaved - she's a fixture at our weekly farmer's market, she's attended conferences and been the "booth greeter" at events with over 20,000 daily attendees. But sometimes it's a rule of the facility (like my mother's condo - no visiting pets), or someone may have terrible allergies or a genuine fear of dogs, and forcing that person to interact with her will not alleviate either of those conditions. As long as the request is made politely and with good reason, I will leave her at home. And if it's just a jerk move, we don't go. How about a poll? |
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If it is just an evening event we leave the girls at home. We just plan it well so that we have given the girls a fun day full of exercise so that they are tired out and happy to be left home with peanut butter in a kong. I do find myself saying no more often to social events. Not because my dogs don't do well on their own, they seem to be fine with it, but more because I work full time and don't get enough time with them as it is, so hate to miss out during evenings and weekends. Our solution is to just do dog sports so that our social time is also dog time! I know that our friends think that we have lost our minds.  |
| Understandably leave at home in the case of your moms condo, They dont know what they are missing. But I also find myself wanting to stay at home and play with Tinsley after working all week. Will only do something on a sat or sun if i have been home all day and its only a couple of hours to leave her in the evening. I met my niece and her kids for dinner last sat for two hours, but had been home all day playing with her. Never do I work all day and then go back out unless I absolutely have to. Like going to school one night a week these past 6 weeks, but took off two of the days to be with her and stay and study. I just dont think its fair to put her in her kennel for 6 - 7 hours while i work, then come home and then put her back in it....thats why i email and use the phone and call people. And actually, I would rather be at home with her watching a movie or playing with her and the kitties....Used to go out when I was younger,,,dont miss it at all..... |
| One of us would travel and the other stay at home with the dogs unless the travel could be done in one day, there and back, usually by plane. But since we don't fly any longer, DH is not comfortable sitting for long drives (and I'm getting that way), no travel. Family has the $$$ etc to fly here if they want to see us, but they don't bother, so we don't bother in the other direction. I'm content with my upright and fuzzbutt family here. |
| If an invitation is extended and it says "no dogs allowed" I would never bring any of my dogs or ask for a favor to include any of them. I spend a lot of time with my dogs and we do fun things. If I'm going off somewhere and they are staying home, they have each other to play with and I always make sure they have enough food and water. They usual sleep while I'm gone. Now if someone is coming over to my house, I don't put the dogs away, unless they are workers coming to do work for me, but as a social invitation. Everyone knows I have dogs and they are welcome to visit, but the dogs will be in the house as well, it is their home too. Friday night a funny thing happened. My son Aaron is selling his motorcycle, which he has stored at our house. Chuck calls me from work and said Aaron was coming over with a potential buyer. So I told him that I would open the garage door and for him to close it when he left. That the dogs and I were laying down in the bedroom and watching tv, so if he could avoid coming in the house unless he absolutely had to, so the dogs would stayed settled and not get turned on. Reminder I have 5 dogs and 4 are puppies. It had been a nice quiet evening, no barking or jumping on and off the bed. They had their night time treats carrots and a spoon of peanut butter. So I heard Aaron come and the dogs did bark, but not as crazy as if they would have saw Aaron. So Asia laid across my doorway, so no one could come in and the 4 puppies took up guard in the piano room and I was watching Helene and Declan keeping an eye on the front door and the laundryroom door. Cubby and Mickey Finn just kept walking around they didn't know what they were suppose to do. It was really cute. I knew everyone had left when all the puppies came back in the bedroom and Asia came back in to her sleeping spot. I feel safer already. |
| As someone who hosts many gatherings large and small, I have been on both sides of this equation. It's important to be a good host, but just as important to be a good guest. The only place I have ever taken my dog is to a family get-together at someone's house, and always with permission. I assume, when a guest of someone else, that they do not want to see my dog unless they have explicitly asked me to bring him. Even then, I generally leave Oscar at home. He is large, and "high maintenance", and leaving him home often makes the most sense. When I host, I generally do not like folks to bring their dogs. Oscar, also known as Rainman  , has enough trouble being out of his routine, and when you add dogs to the mix, he gets more anxious. When trying to get food on the table for guests, one large obnoxious sheepdog underfoot is plenty. The one exception is Oscar's cousin, Jordan. He is a large Goldendoodle, and he and Oscar do well together. They greet, and then basically ignore each other, unless one or the other is getting food.  I have asked Jordan to stay home a couple of times, when Oscar is dealing with a health issue, but that is the exception rather than the rule.Laurie and Oscar |
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