the doggie sitters

I went back to work tonight, for the first time since Cocoa came to live with us.

I left her, and the kids, with my parents.

I think doggie is...pissed at me, un petit peu. (A little bit).

It was stressful for me! omg.

As I was trying to give them last-minute instructions for what to do, the doggie was jumping on them, barking, nipping...it was a fucking ZOO. My mother was visibly uncomfortable/borderline neurotic (She's soooo not a pet person). Cocoa was bounding about, and mom says "don't get all over me, DOG!" It had been raining all day, and I put the dog outside so I could prep my parents without her attacking them and riling up the kids more, and when we let her back in my mom was starting to lose it about how wet the dog was, and it was getting all over everything, and she should really have an old beach towel so we could dry her off before she came in, blah blah blah. My stomach sank..."What was I thinking???? None of us are prepared for this!!"

Anyhow, it all turned out ok. Although my mother said the poor thing (Cocoa) was at a loss for awhile, sniffing around, looking for me, following my mother's every step, taking refuge in a corner of the kitchen by the cupboards and looking with the big puppy eyes, asking for any clue as to "what the fuck? where's that woman who feeds me?"

(um, no, my mom did not say anything close to the fuck word. may god strike you down for even thinking that. that's me, exercising poetic license)

So anyhow, about 30 minutes after I got home (she was sleeping when I first arrived), after my parents had left, Cocoa woke up and walked into the room where I was and I SAW VISIBLE RELIEF IN THOSE DOGGIE EYES.

So I greeted her with much love and petting and much "oh there's my puppy, what a good girl, oh i ruvs my puppy, oh puppy, such a good girl" and she revelled in it. AND THEN

I saw the "I'm mad at you" look. The "how could you have done that to me" look. And while I had twinges of guilt I also laughed and said, "don't be mad at me! I'm back. You're fine".

So she followed me around for the next 20 minutes, getting underfoot, not letting me out of her sight, and then...yawning and finding her way back to bed.

The trauma is over, puppy. Sleep well.