Taylor comes home . . .

So yesterday Taylor Jane aka Tristar's Hot Tamale came home. An exhausting 13 hour trip to Canada and back. I left my house at 6:45AM. One stop in Everett at 8:45 to get Canadian Money, then arrived in Maple Ridge around 11:30. Puppy and I were back on the road by noon ish. We arrived back at the border around 1 and the wait was over 2 and a half hours. It was nearly 3:30 before we were back in the US. We found a grassy spot and played for about 1/2 hour and I gave her some water. Then back in the crate for the rest of the drive home. Traffic on 405 was pure hell. We finally pulled into the driveway around 7PM. Taylor did really well in her crate. She would bark and yelp for about 30 - 45 minutes, then settle down and sleep for about an hour. She never peed or soiled her crate at all. She has good bladder control.

Teri and I played with her until about 9PM. Then we introduced her to her big crate (I used a cat carrier to bring her home) for bed time. All night long, she'd bark and yelp and whine (you'd think we were running a puppy torture chamber) for about an hour, then sleep for about an hour. So needless to say none of us got very much sleep last night. I took her out around midnight for a pee and Teri took her out around 3. She was up for good at 5:30. I watched her while Teri got ready for work, then she and I laid down again for a couple hours. She again whined and barked in her crate (and actually threw up) but settled down for about two hours.

I feel horrible today. No energy. My stomach is upset. I had to leave Taylor at home at 1:00 to head out to site. She was in her crate and even with the windows closed, you could hear her in the street. I felt horrible. I feel like a bad puppy parent. I even called Teri and asked if she could come home early today. I'm a wreck. Emotionally and Physically drained. NOT how you want to come back from vacation.

This puppy parent thing is going to really test me.