We took our dog Molly on our mini vacation this past weekend. She loved it; she looked out the car window and cuddled up to my son for a nap in the car. At the cottage she spent a lot of time on the deck just looking around and napping in the sun (the bugs didn’t seem to annoy her the way they did me). We had to keep her on a leash as there are dogs on nearby properties that like to wander in and our Molly is inconsistent with how she is around other dogs and I also worry for her safety. (I’m a bit of an over protective dog mom.) Although her leash was on, she didn’t complain and wandered around the deck as far as her leash would allow, napped, and just lay there like dogs do.  I was surprised, to say the least, because when we let her out to our yard she mostly stands at the door looking in and barking to be let in.

Today, I’m working from home which is my favorite time to spend with Molly. She ends up spending most of the day sleeping at my feet next to my desk and there’s something about her heavy breathing and even her snores that I find very relaxing. It’s a nice breezy day today so I turned off the air conditioner and opened up the back screen door to let in some fresh air began to work. After a few minutes I noticed that I could not hear the sound of Molly’s breathing and looked around for her. She had gone outside and sure enough had found the spot where the sun was hitting and was fast asleep. As I was looking at her I noticed some bees buzzing around and so I closed the screen door. Within seconds Molly was standing at the door barking.

I think somehow while we were at the cottage, she knew the leash was on for her own safety and she was grateful we had taken her on our vacation instead of to the kennel. Today however, she was in her house and it was her prerogative to nap outside but once that door closed it was like a was shutting her out of her home. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be outside it was the principal of the matter.