Leaving our boys for the first time

This weekend was spring break for me. Well, I wouldn't even call it a "break" as we only had off Friday and Monday, but I'll take what I can get. The "break" started after work on Thursday, as we had our next session of puppy kindergarten. We took the boys hiking at Gambrill beforehand (again, to try to tire them out) and then it was off to class. No matter how much they play, the boys are always extremely high-strung when they get to class. Something about being around other people or other dogs... or the combination of both; they just go nuts. And it's weird- they interact with new people and dogs every day (especially on our almost daily hikes at Gambrill) so it's not like they never see anyone else. Maybe this is just puppy behavior and they will calm down in time. I hope so.
Lance and Jackson got to show off their skills using the commands "sit" and "down" (for lie down) and also practiced "come." They do very well with these commands at home, but when we are at Puppy K, the distractions just take over. At least we are not alone in that though, all puppies are pretty easily distracted. We do know that we want to arrange more play-dates with other dog (or puppy) owners that we know, so that they can be comfortable playing off-leash with other dogs. So I'll be asking anyone I know that has an energetic dog or two to get together with our guys.

We had tickets to the Red Sox/Nats game on Saturday, which we had bought months in advance (before we even had L&J). The game was at 4:00, but since it was down in DC, we planned on leaving the house around 2. We didn't know when we would be back, but figured it would be sometime after 8 pm. The pups would probably be fine going for 6 hours without being let out, but we would have felt really bad leaving them in a crate all day and then crating them again for the night shortly after we got home. Luckily, our good friends Brie and Mick volunteered to let the boys out, feed them, and play with them for a bit. Mick and Brie have had their two dogs since puppyhood (one of which is a Golden) and live close by, so it worked out wonderfully. They even took the guys on a long walk all around the neighborhood. Everything went smoothly. It's so nice to have friends around who will do these kinds of things for you in a pinch (and of course, we would happily return the favor anytime).

We left early Sunday morning for Bethany Beach for a (very brief) getaway. Mom and Joe had gotten Greg and I a gift certificate to the Addy Sea B&B, so we figured that this weekend would be the perfect time to use it. They agreed to watch L&J while we were gone, so we dropped the boys off Sunday morning and were on our way to the beach. Mom and Joe have Brady, who is a 10-year old Golden, so they had all three dogs to tend to. Brady has been around the boys a few times before, and it's been okay each time. L&J defintiely bounce all around and jump on Brady, but he lets them know who's boss. They give him a lot of exercise, too, which is good for him. They have an almost-acre fenced in yard, so there's a ton of room to run around. The only downside is that the boys eat everything in sight- from pinecones to sticks to grass- so Mom and Joe did a lot of running around after them.

Greg and I had a wonderful time at the beach- the weather could not have been better and it was pretty quiet, as it's still the off-season. I have to admit though, we talked about the pups a lot. There was a lot of "I wonder what the boys are doing..." and "Lance and Jackson would love this...." kind of talk. It didn't help that there were dogs everywhere, which made me wish they were with us! I got to pet plenty of other people's goldens and talked about our boys to them and compare stories. Yes, I am officially one of those people that talks about their dogs/kids/whatever all the time. How did that happen?
We got back to my mom's house early Monday afternoon. On the way we stopped at Bark! to get some pet food. I hadn't been in there, but absolutely love the other stores in the Conscious Corner (and the restaurant Great Sage). By the time we turned onto my parents' street, Greg and I were giddy with excitement to see the pups. We gave them hugs, hung around for a little bit, and were on our way. I think my parents had fun with them (okay I know they did) but they definitely had their hands full. And I'm sure Brady was happy to have the house back to himself.
When we got home on Monday, we had planned to take the boys for a hike at Gambrill. But, by this point, we had so much to do and were so tired that we bagged the idea. And L&J were exhausted. Since they did so much running around and playing, we didn't feel too guilty for not taking them out for one day.