The best part of coming home after being away for two days is the greeting at the door. Koda and Summer were excited to see us, wiggling their whole bodies and yelping. They jumped up and danced around me as I brought in my overnight bag. Ok, ok, here I am. Sitting down on the floor, I took their curly furry coats into my arms. It took several minutes for them to finally settle down.

Even better than the warm welcome we received was the news that all went well in our absence. It is always hard to give up the reigns and let someone else take over the care of my babies. When our kids were young I would leave pages of notes for the babysitter, listing schedules, likes, dislikes, options for play, rules, etc. I even gave my mother-in-law step by step instructions for watching our first baby (her grandchild); somehow I lost sight of the fact that she bottle-fed and changed diapers for two children herself. But writing out this detailed information for the care of the baby (or four kids or puppies) always gave me piece of mind that the caregiver would fill my role successfully. That confidence allowed me to enjoy my time away without worrying about things at home.

This was no different. My daughter appreciated the information on the list I left for her on the counter. Puppies are used to routine, so feeding, potty and play times are important. This morning she sent me a good morning text with a short video clip of the dogs barking and hopping all over the sofa. She added to the message, “They have been at this for over an hour.” Later she told me that she came down early this morning to let them out and was looking forward to the quiet snuggle time I had mentioned on their schedule. They must have bypassed that and jumped right into crazy time. Later in the morning when they were outside playing, one of the pups had something in his mouth. To her disgust and surprise a tiny paw of some small animal dropped onto the deck (a bunny paw maybe). This unexpected little treasure was found under the trees in the corner.  By the time we got home this evening, my daughter seemed tired and ready to be relieved of her duties. Even though her brother had helped out a little, it’s a big job. But both agreed that the puppies are busy, with a lot of energy. They were happy that we were home.

It felt nice to get a solid night of sleep with no pups to wake me up to go out. Knowing that they were being loved and cared for by my responsible daughter made it easy to leave the puppies. Every now and then it’s good to get a little separation and share the work of raising two aussiedoodles. Thank you, thank you, thank you! To Daughter Bear from Mama Bear!