My husband and I just returned from a super relaxing week-long honeymoon and I’m pretty sure the only thing that had us looking forward to coming back was getting to see our dogs. This was the longest period of time our dog Happy has ever gone without the both of us and the first time ever our other dog Joey has been away from me at all. Like any pet parent, I was a little nervous about how they’d do without us. We were fortunate to have my brother stay at our house with the dogs, pretty much the ideal pet-sitting solution in my opinion. And thanks to a terrible storm the night before our wedding, our house was the only home in the family with power so my parents, my sister, her husband and their two kids all stayed at our place with the dogs for part of the week too. That’s my niece in the above photo reading her book in a dog bed. The end result: Happy and Joey got more attention during our honeymoon than I think they ever have.

I knew Happy would be fine with my brother as they already had a good bond. Joey, on the other hand, is a tough nut to crack so I was a bit worried. My brother assured me though that after just a day or so, Joey gave up the growling act (he’s the most harmless growly dog you’ll ever meet) and they became best buds. When my brother texted me a photo of himself with all three dogs surrounding him (Joey and our foster dog in each arm and Happy beside him) with the caption “Don’t worry, the dog whisperer is here,” I felt a lot better. I’d had my brother over before I left and gave him the breakdown of food, prescription food, meds, food bowl placement, treats, collars, etc. and left a detailed list of who got what when. I stuck it up on the fridge with a magnet from the vet. My foster dog Lady spent part of our honeymoon with another foster family from the rescue group because she had an important overnight vet appointment the week of our trip so my brother only had to juggle 3 dogs for part of the week.

Happy and Joey even took a field trip to the beach while we were away when my brother took them to his house for a couple days. I think everyone bonded and had fun and my pups were well taken care of. A sure sign of this occurred the morning after we got back. Blake (my husband) and I were upstairs showering and getting dressed for the day. We’d left the dogs downstairs and heard them barking, presumably to be let upstairs with us. But no, that’s not what they were barking at. They were barking outside the guest room door so they could say hi to my brother! I must admit, our feelings were a little hurt…but only a little.