Transitions
Posted: January 25, 2010 Filed under: Apso Aficionados 4 CommentsIt’s been a time of transitions, this past month or so. For my server. For myself. Organizing life. Organizing time. Does one organize transitions, particularly life transitions? Or do the transitions simply happen? A combination, I suppose. Before I get waylaid contemplating the meaning of life, here’s a transition Susan is considering and has some questions:
I just got back from a short trip to Hawaii…..wonderful !!!! My best friend, (Dan) and his wife (Marti) and their 21 year old son (Cody) live on the Big Island, and I had not been over there since they had built and moved into their new house in Wailea — about 10 miles north of Hilo. Although I have fantasized about Hawaii ever since I first went there some 23 years ago, I always came back to my own lazy ways and to staying here. This time I think I need to pursue my dream of getting over there for longer portions of time, which brings me to my questions.
It turns out that taking dogs to Hawaii no longer requires the 120 day quarantine period that always made the whole prospect of taking them impossible. There is now a program by which the dogs can be tested and then approved for direct-release. That’s the primary hurdle for me. I can go. I can take the dogs. They don’t have to be quarantined. It’s convoluted and expensive, but it can be done.
So….I’m trying to figure out how to go for a month or three or four to see if I like it well enough to buy or build something there so I can stay for 6 months….or forever. If I could find someone who would rent to me with 4 dogs (HA HA HA !!!!!) I would simply pack up and go there for December-January-February or so and try it out. I doubt that anyone in their right mind would do that. So…..my friend Katy Rose would be willing to rent out her condo and move in with my dogs for however long I wanted to go for. (In fact that would be a boon to her, since she needs the extra income). Okay, so now my question: how long can I be away from my dogs without them really really forgetting that I’m their mom??????? Realize that I have no idea whether I can survive even a month without THEM, so this is just a fishing expedition for facts, which will eventually help me figure out how to accomplish this mission, but…..that is my main question: how long can I leave them (in their own home with an excellent caretaker etc) without damaging our relationship.
I will look forward to your thoughts, and feel free to put whatever of this you want onto the blog if that suits you
Susan
Kunza at FleetFire Timbers 
Twice, I have had to leave my dogs for 4 months at a time. Both times, when I walked through the door, they went berserk with excitement as if I had only been gone for an hour. They will remember you!!
Cindy
Well, that clinches it…..We are going to start trying to figure out how to migrate this family to The Big Island of Hawaii for the nasty cold winter months of the year. I may have to go without the Gompas at first to get it arranged, but the plan would be to take them once I’ve got us a place to live for long enough to make the process of getting them there worth the time and effort.
Whoopee.
Today I ordered a “real” pet dryer and a special nozzle for the shower so that I can start saving some of the $180/month that I’m spending on having them groomed…..and put it in our Hawaii piggy bank….
Susan
Susan, what dryer did you decide to go with. i have one sitting in my “shopping cart”; had lots of rain the other day and need to be able to dry the guys off quickly, leaving tango damps results in an ear infection. Let me know, thanks. Hawaii sounds awesome!
Hi Rose. I have ordered this one from Amazon: Metro Vacuum AFTD-3 Air Force Commander 4.0-Peak HP Pet Dryer.
Seems it will take 2-5 weeks to get here, so I can’t tell you anything much about it yet, but it sounded like a good idea, and although it is expensive, it still costs less than one visit to the groomer for 4 dogs.
I am about to embark on an attempt to keep all four of my dogs groomed by myself. I did just discover yesterday that my groomer’s insistence that the dogs be detangled prior to bathing is only one point of view, and that washing them first and detangling them in the drying process is actually a whole lot easier. I used some of that detangling mixture that you suggested a while back: the Infusium 23 mixed with the Cowboy Magic, and it was easy peasy.
Now I will have to learn about how to trim their feet so that the rainy weather doesn’t turn their feet into hairballs of tangles; how to trim around their eyes; how to use thinning shears; and on and on and on. My discovery last month of a dematting comb-like tool has made a world of difference to my approach to keeping them in good shape by myself.
Susan