A few days ago, a woman jumped into 40 degree Lake Michigan water to save her dog from drowning and/or freezing. She apparently treaded water for 20 minutes until paramedics saved both her and the pup. This led to a number of newspaper articles and TV reports and re-surfaced (pardon the cheesy pun) the research of Jon Katz. Apparently, dogs don’t love people, but rather look to maniupate them – for feeding, affection, etc.
“Dogs develop very strong, instinctive attachments to the people who feed and care for them,” Katz said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune blogger Eric Zorn in this article (it’s worth a read). “Over 15,000 years of domestication, they’ve learned to trick us into thinking that they love us. “
So on that note, what to do with our dog for our trip? To ask friends to take care of him for 17 days is a lot to ask of anyone. We’ve reached out to those who we know who like our dog and are allowed to host pets in their apartment. Add on top of the criteria that they will actually want to host our dog for so long, that they’ll be in town, and that their schedules are predictable enough during the start of summer and it’s no wonder why we haven’t been able to find a match yet.
Inja looking for Marc while he waits for him at the El station at the end of the day.
So naturally we can look to boarding him at a kennel. Three problems with that – for that amount of time, the cost would add up very quickly. Second, even though they would give him a good amount of exercise at the kennel, I have concerns about him being couped up for so long without being able to run off-leash to get energy out. Third, we plan on getting home late on June 13, at a time when most kennels are closed until Monday – causing us to have to pay for unnecessary boarding and being separated from Inja (pictured) for longer than all three of us would want.
So that’s our dilemma. No worries though, I figured out a great back up plan. Yes, it’s expensive to board a dog for so long in Chicago, but there’s always Wisconsin! So I’ve been Google-ing kennels along our route and have found a few options that are 2/3 the cost here in the Windy City. Plus, for a little bit extra, you can pay a minimal fee to have them take your dog out on a walk in the woods to smell the prairie and other unmentionable things. And if we time it right, we would be able to drop him off and pick him up at the beginning and end of our trip with minimal disruption to our itinerary.
So, we’ll see what happens and I’ll let you know. One thing is for sure, when Marc and I pick up Inja from wherever he is staying, I know Inja will be so happy to see us (and he’ll recognize us specifically) that there will be no doubt that Jon Katz is wrong.
