FINDING TIME OR PEACE OF MIND?

As a child, I remember asking my mother what she wanted for her birthday, Mother’s Day, Christmas… inevitably she would answer “peace and quiet.” My mother worked hard, both in and out of the house. We wanted to lavish her with attention and praise. “Peace and quiet” meant us kids going away for a bit, giving her a day off. We never took offense to the idea that all she really wanted was our absence, and we tried to grant her wish, but even she couldn’t give herself the peace and quiet she desired. She was still our mother. She still took care of us. She still wanted us with her. I realized at some point it wasn’t really about peace and quiet, about us going away, rather she simply wanted life to be peaceful and quiet to give her the time to enjoy all for which she spent her days working.

Now as a grown woman, I find myself regularly asking the universe, my coworkers, my fiancé not for peace and quiet, though granted, I don’t have 3 small children like my mother, but rather what I think she really wanted… more time. In the day, in the week, in our lives. More time to do all we need to do, to care for all the people and animals we need to care for, more time to be able to enjoy all we spend our days working for and towards.

It’s often said time goes more quickly the older you get… maybe our perceptions change, maybe we have more to do in the same amount of time we’ve always had… and I’ve been feeling the breeze of the days flying right by my face. Though I often lament not having enough time to do my own little projects, tasks, to dos, recently and mostly I now worry there’s not enough time to truly enjoy my family. Not enough time to keep my animals the happy little creatures they deserve to be.

With two adults in the household, we’ve been able to strike a balance for many years in caring for our pets. Alternating work schedules and generous periods of down time allowed walks, adventures and vacations to come naturally. Though discussions about dog walkers have arisen, our challenging pets have motivated us to find ways around relying on someone else to handle them and all their quirks. However as Tag and I are embarking on new and varied career journeys, this is the first time when long days for us both were going to take a toll on our animal team. Realizing we had no other option, we began the search for a trusted human to help us care for our beloved animals.

Starting with a post on Craigslist, Tag received several responses, narrowing the focus to two candidates: both independent dog walkers, neither with professional experience or training, but both with references for previous and/or current clients. An internet search lead Tag to a training and dog walking service run by a woman and her team of “handlers.” We set appointments with all three. As two of our three dogs are particularly particular, and all three have their own quirks, our goal was finding someone who would not only allow the dogs to relieve themselves mid-day, but who would be willing to adopt our training practices. Someone who we could trust with a key to our home, in our home and with our most precious possessions. Not to mention worth the expense!

We met the two independent walkers separately, conducted interviews regarding their experience, training philosophy, schedules, fees, etc. Then allowed them to walk one or two or all three of the dogs around the neighborhood with us hanging back, walking ahead, walking side-by-side. We then met with the dog walking company at a local area dog park. With a team of handlers as well as herself, the owner makes her daily rounds, picking up her pack, all small dogs (something very interesting to us), and brings them to a variety of dog parks designated for the little guys. She had an eye towards training, behavior and belief in the strength of a positive pack experience. Though she was impressed with our handling of our troubled Oliver and even Gracie’s anxiety, she was honest in admitting she couldn’t take on our three. Oliver was too unpredictable for her to risk him creating a problem with her other clients’ dogs. We completely understood and accepted. (She has since been gracious in welcoming our dogs to the dog park under our supervision during her scheduled trip recognizing Oliver’s need for supervised social interaction.)

Tag and I both had our first and last impressions of each of the independent walkers, and made our decision. We set a time for a training session with the walker, introduction to our home, our stash of treats, and protocols for handling the dogs. We waited with bated breath as she took them all on practice walks around the neighborhood.

Although waiting for her to text after her first solo walking appointment was one of the most anxiety-inducing experiences for me, from then on, knowing someone was taking the time to break up the time between when we left in the morning to when we came home at night lifted a weight of worry off of our shoulders. We established a system of daily notes from us to the walker with any special needs or requests for the day, and every day she leaves a note of their progress and behavior — and occasionally she surprises us with photos of their adventures. Though every day I wish for more time to enjoy the peace and quiet of my animals, having a dog walker through this busy time in our lives has given us peace of mind worth the cost of admission and more.