Has anyone seen the dog?
We were getting ready to drive to Niagara Falls, Ontario for our annual indoor water park weekend when I let our dog Winter out for one last pee before we would be leaving. I was still in the process of gathering snacks for the car so I went back inside the house and continued packing.
15 minutes went by when I realized that I had forgotten to let her back in. In a panic I opened the door expecting her to be sitting on the porch waiting but she wasn’t there. I called her name and she didn’t come.
Usually when I open the door and call her name, she runs so fast that she’s practically tripping up the stairs to get inside for her treat. She’s been trained since a puppy to do this and I’m pretty sure that 50% of the time when she howls for us to let her outside to pee, she doesn’t even leave the porch and waits for me to let her back inside just so that she can have another treat.
After calling her name a few more times, I started a more thorough search of the property. As I walked past the back of the car, I noticed that the trunk was still open and I found Winter laying inside the trunk on our raincoats, ready and waiting to go (nothing like making me feel guilty that we weren’t taking her with us this time). I doubt that she would enjoy spending the weekend sitting in a hotel room while the rest of us are at the indoor water park so grandma was on her way over to dog sit for us.
P.S. DON’T let your fur babies ride in the trunk of your car. To any animal loving person reading this post…we’ve never put Winter in the trunk of our car (she sits in the back seat with the girls).
When Winter was a puppy we booked her into a highly recommended overnight doggy daycare for one of our vacations thinking that she would have the time of her life. When we picked her up she was miserable and since then we now ask grandma to stay overnight at our house with her whenever we’re away. She gets long walks, lots of treats and even more hugs when grandma stays over and its a more comfortable environment for her to be at home while we’re gone.
Before Winter, we had an Australian Kelpie mix named Harley. Kelpie’s are very smart dogs and are known to be escape artists (just like huskies). They will sneakily dig in same spot in the backyard (behind the lilac bush in our case) until the hole is just big enough to get under the fence but not big enough to be noticed until it’s too late.
Grandma found this out out the hard way when she was dog sitting while we were on vacation in Tofino, BC. My mom called me in a panic just as we were at the front desk in the middle of checking into our hotel to let us know that Harley had gotten out of the backyard and she couldn’t find her. My first instinct was to drive back to the airport and book a flight home but it would take us 5 hours to drive back to Victoria, another 5 hours to fly home and then another hour to get home from the airport in Toronto.
We called my mother in law in the meantime who just happened to be in the area shopping. She drove around looking for Harley who was eventually found taking a walk by herself in the ravine down the street from our house like it was no big deal.
Winter has managed to escape from our yard a few times since we adopted her 7 years ago. One time she squeezed through a small opening in our hedge, picked up the boxer next door and they both wandered over to the other neighbour’s house to say hello to the visiting black lab. Meredith and Kirby, two super cute french bull dogs who lived at the other house next to ours have also had the pleasure of surprise visits from Winter. Sometimes it feels like Winter has a more active social life than we do.
Over the years we’ve learned a few things about leaving our escape artist dog with grandma while we’re on vacation. For our own peace of mind, and for my moms’ sanity while we’re away, here are a few things that we have done and that you can do as well when leaving your dog with grandma to go on vacation.
Take a photo of your dog with your cellphone before you leave, one in a standing position, one sitting and one of a side profile. We like to think that it will be a deterrent for Winter to attempt escape knowing that her mugshot will be plastered everywhere if she does. We print a copy and leave it with our vacation paperwork/itinerary. We also text one to grandma or whoever is dog sitting to keep a copy on their phone. If a doggy daycare jailbreak does occur, recent photos are readily available to share pretty quickly.
Have your dog micro chipped and keep the contact information on the account up to date. It always amazes me when I hear about roaming dogs being taken to the vets and scanned only to have the microchip contact information out of date and the owner can’t be found. It’s not expensive and only takes a few minutes to update information if your address or phone number changes.
Ensure that your dog wears his/her collar at all times (with current tags). My mom is a very attentive grandma, so she only brings Winter outside while on her leash. However, in the event that Winter decides to make a run for it, her collar and contact information will be available if she’s found by someone else.
Join community Facebook or other social media groups. We belong to a few different lost and found pet Facebook groups and local neighbourhood groups. It only takes a few minutes to post in these groups to help spread the word about a lost or found pet. And that picture that we recommended taking on your cellphone, will come in handy to help create a quick social media post.
Leave the name and phone number of your vet, the 24 hour emergency vet, you next door neighbour(s), the nearest animal shelter and your city or township office with grandma. They will come in handy in the event of an escape or any other dog emergency. Grandma may not necessarily know where dogs are taken to when picked up by local by-law officers or where the after hours vet is located. Most of our immediate neighbours know who Winter is so a phone call from grandma asking if she has wandered over there can help find her more quickly.
Leave a detailed (day by day) vacation itinerary with grandma including hotel phone numbers for where you are staying. In case anything happens, it will be easier for grandma to contact us if she can’t reach us by cellphone.
Taking care of these few simple steps before leaving can help lessen the stress for your dog sitter and make for a more enjoyable vacation for you knowing that everything is under control with fido back at home.
Do you take your dog on vacation with you or do you leave him/her at home with a dog sitter or at a dog hotel? Please share in the comments section below.
is a Canadian lifestyle and travel blogger, sharing stories, information and resources about family travel and everyday family life.
