This week my dogs had both grooming and vet appointments and I made a realization…. I get much more nervous about their appointments than my own. I also spend much more money on theirs, with less concern how much it costs. So what gives?
If you slow down and really analyze your own behavior, sometimes you make interesting observations.
To keep our household budget evenly spaced throughout the year, I created a grooming schedule. We take turns. I go for my haircut one month, and the next month my dogs go for theirs. This way we each get groomed every eight weeks or so.
A few months ago, when our longtime groomer retired, I admit I had a near melt-down. It takes a long time to find someone you trust enough to leave your fur babies with for hours, let alone, like the way they look once you pick them up.
You need to trust that they will be gentle and patient with your pooch that has a list of personality quirks. They need to be careful enough not to let them run off out the door or into a scuffle with another dog there. And they need to be experienced enough that they can accomplish all the things that your dog would never allow you to do to them at home.
Once you find this, you hold on and cherish them. So when they retire, although you know they deserve to slow down and enjoy life without being elbow deep in anal sacs and nail trims, you panic.
Finding a replacement is a bit like going back to square one trying to find a life-partner. You know what you want and what you don’t want. But how do you turn your list into a real person? You can ask friends to set you up with someone they know and like or you can go online and try to find your perfect match there.
You’ll probably end up with some one-off connections before you settle down. Maybe one you think is really nice, but the styling just isn’t what you want to look at for the next few months. Maybe one gives a great look, but just doesn’t treat you and your pup the way you deserve to be treated. Maybe one rushes things too much, and someone could get hurt. But the other takes things too slow and you have to leave your dog for the better part of a day with them.
You have become Goldie Locks in search of the perfect bear bed… and it can take a long time to find the one that’s just right. So once you do find them, you want to do everything in your power to keep them forever.
I remember back to when my girlfriends’ kids were young. Around the holidays they would spend time and money getting gifts for this teacher and that teachers aid. It didn’t make any sense to me. Until I had to leave my dogs in someone else’s care. And suddenly you realize there is no gesture to grand to stay on the good side of people caring for your child behind closed doors.
I also remember them sneaking over to the onsite daycare at work, just to peak in and make sure everything looked ok.. Although I thought I understood, it wasn’t until I had to leave my dogs for hours at appointments that I truly felt what they were in back then. I find myself checking the clock, wondering what part they would be doing now, and working the math to try and figure out what time I can rescue them to bring them back to the safety of home.
It’s similar with the vet. I found my vet years ago when I had my first dog, another cocker spaniel, named Jenna. At that time he worked at an animal hospital close to home and I just lucked out that the doc with rock star skills worked in my backyard. As years went on, he started his own practice much further away. But when you find someone with a great bedside manner who you completely trust your pet’s health with, you follow them wherever they go.
For my own doctors appointments, it’s all about convenience and cost. Who is in-network so it will be most cost-effective? Who don’t I have to drive through a lot of traffic to see and who has the easiest parking lot to navigate. I know they may recommended I should do something, but it’s expensive, and things are probably ok, so maybe I’ll wait and deal with it under next year’s deductible.
Not when it comes to our pets! A primary vet 35 minutes and 2 construction zones away – no problem. A vet dermatologist 65 minutes and 2 busy highways away – if that’s what she needs, let’s do it. I don’t want to pay $90 each out of pocket for 2 extra teeth cleanings for myself each year – but I just paid $2,000 for my dog’s dentistry and will just bypass going to restaurants for the rest of the year to finance it.
I can’t even bring myself to think about if our vet ever retires. I say “if” because I can’t bring myself to think about it as a “when”. Luckily for us, he has since brought on two other docs that we trust and love just as much. But the three of them should expect us camped out on their home door steps even when they are ninety years old if the girls ever have an emergency, need surgery, or even just seem “not quite themselves”.
It’s amazing the level that a parent will put their child’s well-being in front of their own. I’ve heard about it and seen it, but never fully felt it until the kids were my own. My own furry kids.
For me, I realize that I’m much more relaxed about spending money on my pets than on myself, and apparently am more emotionally invested in their well-being than my own. So what does that mean? I think it just means we’re parents….. pet parents.