Okay, we didn’t REALLY go to camp. But we did get an invite from some friends who have a new house and a big fenced-in yard. So yesterday I packed up the pups, two meals worth of kibbles, some chicken jerky treats, and hit the road. Okay, I packed a few things for myself, too… like a change of clothes.
Lally had made this trip with me before — we’d gone up to visit my human friends Ken and Jen while Moose was having his overnight at the veterinarian’s after his tail surgery. She had already romped in the yard AND met the two resident cats: Cujo and Annie. To sum up the last visit, Annie was curious and Cujo was cowardly. She definitely doesn’t live up to her Stephen King inspired name!
Knowing it would be double the dogs on this visit, my friends set up a barricade in the hallway that divides the living room and kitchen area from the bedrooms. The dogs could have free run of the kitchen half of the house and the cats could hide safely in the bedroom. Cujo did bravely peek around the doorway to see what was going on, and then retreated to the safety of under the bed.
We had a bit of excitement at bedtime, when I accidentally turned the ceiling fan on in the guest room. Lally is (for some inexplicable reason) deathly afraid of ceiling fans and would not even come down the hall, let alone come into the room. Nothing bothers Moose; he followed me right to the room and made himself comfortable on the bed. Eventually, Lally settled down enough to join us.
All was peaceful until my bladder woke me around six. I then stumbled out into the living room to find one of my hosts already at work, with the cats for company. Ken suggested that it would be okay to let the dogs out, and that the cats could probably figure out a hiding spot. So I released the hounds.
Moose and Lally came bounding out, ran right past Cujo, and greeted Ken with great enthusiasm. Annie watched from beneath the desk. Then Cujo took a step and the dogs suddenly realized there was another fuzzy thing in the room… and the chase was on. Cujo made a quick lap of the living room (followed by Lally and Moose) and then joined Annie underneath the desk while I herded the dogs out into the yard.
I don’t think the cats and my dogs are going to be great pals any time soon… but hopefully they’ll learn to coexist peacefully. All in all, sleep-away camp was fun. We had good food, good friends, and some wacky adventures. The only thing missing was the arts and crafts!