I thought the days of accompanying a child to school for the
first time and all the attending emotions were long behind me…until this
morning when I took Diva to her first day at doggy day camp. On Saturday she or
should I say, we, had an interview to make sure we were up to snuff. Aggressive
or behaviorally challenged dogs are not good for the group dynamics and that is
one reason I chose this program. I wanted to feel good about leaving her. So
today when we entered it was much busier and noisier in the play area. As Diva
was led toward the barking she looked at me as though she were on her way to
certain annihilation. She also managed
to throw in a bit of “how dare you betray me” for good measure. Then once in
there she managed to back out of her collar and retreat. Luckily she is
portable and was then carried to her destination.
I went home for a little while after that and was stunned at
how empty it felt minus her living presence and personality. In the middle of
the floor lay the stuffing-less hedgehog she had been tossing around this
morning and even it seemed a bit sad.
But, as might be expected, when I picked her up a few hours
later and looked through the one-way window into the play area she was happy as
could be, wagging her tail and enjoying her new companions. I decided to try
this because she has no dog to play with now that Ziggy has died and I think it
may be just the thing. All of us need
friends we can truly relate to.
