A Trip to Israel and Change of Allegiance

Over the holidays, I was kept busy.  My sister, Jenny, came down from Portland for a week, with plans to see whichever of the other Carson clan we could we could round up.

We had craft projects planned with our brother Tom's kids, and a day at the San Diego Wild Animal Park with our oldest brother, Chris, and my kids, Nick, Erin and Brett.   

Then, of course, there couldn't be a Carson gathering without the ocean involved!  So we had a day at the Long Beach Aquarium planned and a whale watching trip....

But then late in the planning game, I got a call from my dear friend, Betsy.  Her sister-in-law had a long-anticipated trip to Israel planned for the holidays.  And at the last minute, her dog-sitter had backed out!  

Would I consider house/dog-sitting for her for ten days during the holidays? She didn't live too very far from me.  She was just in Newport Beach.

Her two, adorable, shaggy, white dogs are pretty highly strung, and are no longer compatible, shall we say, with staying at the kennel.  The younger of the two has severe separation anxiety issues.  

Even when her owner leaves her in the comfort of her own home with a dog-sitter, she has terrible diarrhea  problems, among others.  So, needless to say, the kennels no longer want to board her.

Okay, this really isn't sounding so fun....  But how can I say no?  Anna's plans are all made, her tickets paid for, and her bags probably all packed!  Of course I will do it.  If she doesn’t mind Jenny being there, too.

I went a few days early so that Anna could show me the park they walk to twice a day.  

And then the many trails beyond the park where you can take long, leisurely hikes down to and along the Back Bay of Newport Bay.  

A wildlife nut’s dream!, I think.  Jenny is going to LOVE this!

On this visit, the younger of the two dogs, Jewel, would not let me near her.   She is the neurotic, diarrhea, anxiety queen.  She wanted no part of me. 

But Sarah, her mother, is a sweetheart. She loves everybody!  She came right up to me and wanted to give me all kinds of love.

I asked Anna how much food to feed them, etc.  She showed me a case of canned food, but said she didn’t know how much, as she usually fed them whatever she was eating.  “But I don’t expect you to do that…” she said with a quick glance at me. 

“That’s why I bought the canned food….  But the LOVE Double Doubles from McDonald’s!” she said, slipping me a $10 bill.

She showed me where the leashes and toys and doggie treats were all kept; then the towels, the pots and pans, etc.  

Anna seemed really worried.  I assured her that the most important thing was for her to just go and have a good time and not worry.  Just leave everything to me.  We would all be fine.  I’ve raised kids and all kinds of pets.  I could handle it.

On Christmas day, I picked Jenny up from the airport and the next day Anna left for Israel, but not without a bucket load of last minute nerves. 

I just kept telling her, whatever came up, I would handle.   The dogs would be fine.  It’s okay if they don’t know me.  

I am really, really good with little kids and animals.  Men, maybe no quite so much....

The time flew by, what with trips to the aquar- ium, whale-watch- ing, an after- noon at the Wild Animal Park, and of course lots and lots of dog walks! 

But by the end of day two, the neurotic, fearful Jewel transformed into a happy, playful, loving sidekick that followed me everywhere and followed my every command.

Jenny left and the last two days were kind of quiet with just Jewel and Sarah and me and the walks to the Back Bay (with the camera in hand, of course.)

Early on the morning of January 5 ^th, I got a text saying Anna had landed at LAX.  She was back in CA.  

So I got up and started dust mopping the hardwood floors, cleaning up the last minute white hair bunnies of playful dogs, fed the dogs and took them for their walk.

It was three hours before she could clear customs, gather her suitcase, and get a shuttle ride home.  But finally, I heard her at the door.  The dogs alerted at the sound of someone at the door and came to the door, barked once and sat their growling.

I had left the door unlocked so she could come in easily when she arrived.  She opened the door and stepped in and…

Both dogs growled viciously and barked... and barked... and growled... and barked..., backing away from her toward me protectively!

“You guys!” Anna said, holding both hands out in surprise.

They stopped barking, then growled for a second and looked back at me.

“What’s this?!”  Anna laughed.

Finally Sarah realized it was Anna and ran to her.  But Jewel still held back for a minute. 

Only when I told her, “Well, go on!” did she run up and greet her owner. 

Then she got excited and jumped on her.  But she immediately followed this by running back to me to see if it was all right.

And she spent the next few moments running back and forth between us, not sure where to show her allegiance.

The lesson of this story has nothing to do with vacations in Israel, or house-sitting, or even dogs.  It’s about allegiance.  About knowing who you are and what you believe in and sticking to your guns.

In this case, it was just a humorous moment when two dogs simply had such a good time adapting to their new handler that for a moment or two they forgot that they had another, real mom out there who was going to come back to pick up where she left off.

But often you’ll see that with us human types.  We change our allegiance at the drop of a hat because we don’t know who we are at our own core.   We don’t have a solid base of our own, so we sway this way or that, influenced by those who have stronger personalities and/or opinions.  

It is so important for a healthy self worth to know who you are and where you stand.  With that solid base, you will have no need to waver.