As described in a previous post, I was off to the North Sea Island of Amrum last week, and Max went to dog holiday camp with Lucky Dog Berlin. I am very happy with his stay there. They sent me a video showing how he was out exploring, off leash, together with a handful of other dogs of all shapes and sizes, looking content. I am sure he has had loads of exercise in mostly car-free areas.

Yesterday, as I picked him up in Grunewald, he staged the usual “reunion” scene (like after his walks with Frank, and when he has been home alone for a couple of hours), just worse, of jumping, barking, howling , whining, and clinging to me, and when we started walking towards the bus stop, he kept pulling and sniffing like crazy. After a few minutes on the bus, he became anxious and unruly, much more than normally, again whining and barking and generally behaving a little like a wild horse :-). The bus was quite crowded so it took ages to get home because we had to get off the bus many times and walk and then get back on another one – two stops on the bus, five stops on foot, repeat.

As we approached home, he pulled more and more and when we got into the flat he took several wild sprints in and out of all the rooms and then did a slower round sniffing everywhere. He remained whiny and groany until I made him at least stand in his bed and started stroking, petting, massaging, and singing (yes, Max, as the only living being, likes my singing – even I myself feel like running away screaming when I sing). He eventually sat, and finally lay down, but every time he was just about to drop off to sleep, he got up again and took another sprint around the flat and then came back and clung to me, shaking, whining and groaning. This took a couple of hours till he was finally so fast asleep that I was able to get up and move around without waking him.

I was starting to worry whether eleven nights had been too long, keeping in mind that Max has only been with me for six months, but Lucky Dog Berlin has a slightly restrictive pick-up service (can only take place Monday to Thursday in Grunewald) which explains why I went to Amrum already on the Friday, although the course only started Monday morning, and I only picked Max up again yesterday (Monday) although I was back in Berlin on Saturday night – just in case anybody was wondering …..

However, after all that, this morning it seems that trust has already been reestablished and he is back to normal – and perhaps beyond?: I was up for an hour and moving around before Max woke up. This is the first time that has ever happened. He is also not reacting in any way at all to the usual sounds just outside the flat by the lift.

Today, Max is going on his usual Tuesday walk with Frank (Instinkt & Intuition – die andere Hundeschule). It will be interesting to see if Frank notices any difference in Max’s behaviour.

I would be happy to use Lucky Dog again if it were not for the pick-up arrangements, which might fit in some cases but not all. I have found another similar holiday service, Tom for Dogs, that I might try next time to see if they actually pick up and bring back from and to the home to spare us that nightmarish journey on the bus. (Much as Berlin is quite a dog friendly city – taxi drivers generally hate them and it is hard to find one that will accept a dog).

On a slightly different note, I hear from several people who know about dogs that Max’s anxiety could be a sign of thyroid problems. No blood work was ever done as far as I know, so some time in the new year, I might try to find a way to have him properly examined (our regular vet – Felmo the mobile vet that comes to our home does not do blood work). Anything to spare him all this apparent agony.

Questions, comments, suggestions? Please send me an e-mail.