[Lovetodream88]

Originally Posted by Beer Belly

When we went traveling this past summer, it was the first time in over 10 years the Wife and I sat together at the beach under an umbrella....usually she would be with friends, and I'd be at a park or something with the boys.....we also went to restaurants, had a nice meal and then sat for a cocktail and listened to the band.....pups are not allowed on the beach till after hours, and never at a restaurant.The last time we had a sitter was years ago, and when we returned home, the oldest pup (Frisco) seemed a little off, and the sitter said everything was fine.....4 days later, we had to put him down....it was at that time we decided if the pup (Codi) can't go, we don't go. So, you can see where I have an issue.....put into the mix that we may retire in 5-8 years. I'm leaning toward getting a pup to complete our home, and deal with the other stuff when it comes up.

There are several dog beaches and many restaurants have outside sitting now where you can sit with your dogs and still order and eat. It might not seem great to some but for those of us scared to hire a sitter or kennel it's not to bad. I just starting leaving mine for a couple hours at a time at home and it's going ok. I recently purchased a camera that will send the feed to my phone so that's an option too. I got lucky with my older girl who is 9 now and for the first 8 years of her life she was never left alone but when my grandpa passed it became almost impossible not to leave her for a few hours but at 9 she's pretty chill. I am now trying to train my 8 mounth old boy that it happens at least once a week and they have each other so things are going pretty well for us with that.