This one’s dedicated to my pets back home.  My 15 year old Akita/Samoyed Meiko has always been a runner.  She is the sweetest, smartest, most loving and loyal dog, but if you leave the front door or back gate open she will sniff the air, give you the look that says “catch me if you can,” and before you can grab her collar zoom! she’s off.

During her younger days, the pound must’ve had a special Meiko cell.  She’s had several overnight stays.  One time the kids and I found her playing in the skateboard park.  The teens tied a bandanna around her neck, and she was having a blast chasing them up and down the ramps (or are they called bowls?).  Another time I found her eating lunch with some construction workers.  She’s a beautiful dog (albeit really stinky and shabby now), so I’m amazed no one ever managed to snatch her up to keep.  Oh, and if you’re wondering why we were so stupid leaving the door open too many times, she can also open the back sliding glass door with her nose (well she could when she was younger).  The back gate has latch issues, and, well, when someone works on something in the backyard inevitably Meiko finds her way out.

The dog is really old.  15 is hard in Akita years.  She’s half blind, deaf and crippled.  If Joe takes her for a walk she spends the rest of the week recuperating from it.  She’s also a little senile and forgets sometimes that she needs to poo, so when she farts she is as amazed as the rest of us when a pellet shoots across the room.

I was a wreak yesterday because Joe messaged me to let me know she got out again.  Unfortunately, the painters didn’t think she’d run, oh but she did.  Our other dog Badger is a bit of a spaz and while he loves a good walk, he doesn’t like venturing far without one of us with him, so he stayed but freaked out all night long when he had to go to bed without her.  It’s going to be so hard on him when she passes.  It’s going to be hard on all of us.  We’ve known her and loved her all of her life.

My people back home know I didn’t abandon them.  They know I needed to do this overseas adventure because it’s something I’ve always wanted to do, and the timing and job was right.  But, my pets are another story.  One of the disadvantages of this life is leaving them behind.  Luckily, my dogs (and one pissy cat) are still at their home with the rest of their family, but it bothers me that I can’t be with them.  It kills me that I probably won’t be with Meiko during her last moments, and the thought of her being out in the rain (Phoenix had rain this weekend!) with none of us (especially me, the woman who should’ve chipped her!  sadly her dog tags are connected to my old phone number, and I didn’t think to change it) broke my heart.  All of us who are over here with pets back home, miss our animals dearly.  We all go through moments of this is so unfair to Fido, and I’m such an irresponsible pet owner.  How dare I do this?  And then we remind ourselves, hello?  we left people too.  But anyway, you get the point.  I miss my other babies too and wish I was home with them (except when I’m out gallivanting about the world).

The good news is my daughter found Meiko through a Facebook page that posts lost/found dog pics (see social media isn’t just for fake news and silly status updates!).   That dog did not spend the night out in the cold.  Instead she was 10 houses down with a very nice lady who thought she was a ‘gem.’  So, my pooch had her probable last escape, and Joe got to meet and thank a good neighbor.

But yeah we expats sure do miss our dogs.  Oh, and yes you can bring your animals here.  It’s just very expensive, and in my case it would’ve been unfair to the dogs to ship them all the way over here where half the year it’s too hot to walk them outside without socks on.

Oh and I better include a shot of Felony.  She’d make me pay if I didn’t include her, and yes I love her too.