Tag: #britishcolumbia

Living with Indy~Holiday

I never expected that dropping off a doggo to a kennel for an extended period of time would be so emotionally stressing…A3A0BB64-9F5A-48F0-9571-3D3B797BFDCC

We have been given the task to care for my son’s dog, she is a 90Lb Lab/Sheppard cross. She, Indy, will be with us for a total of 6 months while my son is serving in the military. Indy has started to settle in well, is learning our routines, and is enjoying lots of love and attention. And just when things are starting to feel more natural, our scheduled holiday was a welcomed reprieve for us but I’m not convinced 10 days in another new environment isn’t going to be the easiest for Indy.

The daycare/kennel we had chosen for Indy was close to home, well regarded, and experienced. Indy had spent one day a week at the daycare for several weeks, getting to know the staff and

190EBEB1-D5F7-4182-8522-4971C27EAF7F.jpegroutines of the facility. She always came home both tired and happy, which I took as a great sign!!

Dropping Indy off, for her, was a normal day at the center. For me, it was full of questions, such as will she feel abandoned, will she get enough cuddles, and how much time at home will she need to adjust all over again…

Thankfully, the daycare posted pictures each day while we were gone. Of course with treats, all the doggies looked happy and well adjusted! If only Indy could tell us her side of the experience, then we’d know the whole muddy story.

When I arrived to pick up Indy, it was like no time had passed. She was just as excited to see me as she usually was. She was bathed and wasn’t bringing home the smell of the daycare. She happily hopped into the back of the car and upon arriving home, promptly slept the rest of the day away.

Welcome home Indy, sleep well!

fullsizeoutput_1e3c Vacation planner (Trudi)

No easy task…

Moving from one country to another is no easy task and we know this from firsthand experience! There are jobs to obtain, living arrangements to make, and stuff to haul, plus, plus, plus…

Once we received the official letter of approval and decided on a date, we had to decided what “stuff” was worth shipping, hauling, and/or keeping. We ultimately decided that not much of our belongings were going to make the trip back to Canada. We had about 2 months to get ready, I started right away with the sorting, selling, and packing started to ensure all tasks were completed and reduced the stress. Basically, everything needed to go except for personal items such as clothes and toiletries, and a few keepsakes. I started with the stuff we had in storage, if it was stored, did we really need it? I shipped a box or two of Christmas decorations (of which plenty broke and now I have one box worth, I shipped off season clothes and a couple of boxes of keepsakes. Much of the rest was sold (couches, chairs, tables), donated (dishes, kitchen items, clothes) or trashed (9-year-old mattress). When it was time to leave, we could fit what we kept in each of our cars, his & her carloads!

Now that we are packed, where will we live? Knowing that the Vancouver BC area was having a housing crisis, I wasn’t sure what we were going to be able to do. I know I haven’t mentioned it often throughout this process, but we also had a 103lb German Shepard that needed to travel with us. We did end up deciding that the doggo needed to stay with grandpa for a few months until we could get settled but we were still looking for accommodations that would allow for this dog, who would join us is a few months. I made many attempts at reaching out to landlords and apartment complexes, but no one would even give me the time of the day to ask questions because I was not in town to meet with them or discuss rentals. Trying to find a rental that allowed big dogs made our search even more difficult and frustrating. I had tried on a few occasions to have my daughter (who was local) meet with landlords, but still, the lack of responses was discouraging. There would be no way that I was going to find housing from long distance. So, we couch surfed for a few weeks in October and rented an Airbnb for November, which gave us some time to search while we were local.

rental-housing-vancouver-dantoulgoet.jpg

Jobs, well that was the easy part of this whole adventure. As an RN who has worked in the local health authority before, it was easy enough to contact some people I knew and step through the process; although there were a few hiccups (which I’ll highlight at another time) being an ED trained RN, pretty much ensures that the jobs will always be there when I need it! Jerad on the other hand, although he looked for work, he wasn’t hard pressed to find anything right away. He was incredibly lucky that his employer in Denver agreed to have him work remotely until mid-November as he was in the middle of a few projects that they needed completed, this bought him some time to get settled and find work!

Ok, so we have a plan, a short-term one, but a plan none the less!

fullsizeoutput_1e3c Trudi