Radical Canines

Thursday finally wrapped up the 2020 school year for me and I am so excited! Like many across the world, I have been working from home since March. It was a bit of an adjustment but I can honestly say I have loved working remotely. It meant later mornings and more time with my dogs both of which are great! I was pleasantly surprised by how well all 3 boys have been with me seeing students. Ryder basically sleeps all day, so the adjustment for him was basically non existent. Rumor can be a little needy and would be whiney sometimes but with some location adjustments learned quickly that being quiet during Zoom meetings was expected and he would only get antsy when I started saying goodbye to a student before transitioning to my next. Rugby needed a little help with settling at first and adjusting to the fact that even though I was home we could not cuddle or play all day, but he caught on pretty quick. I have loved being able to spend all day with my boys and being able to allow them more free time. Typically when I was working pre-pandemic, Rumor and Rugby were crated through the day. However I didn’t think that was necessary with me being home and so began out musical rooms.

The first few days I would alternate who was out and who was crated (Rugby and Rumor don’t get along great so they aren’t typically out together for safety reasons). This didn’t work great because Rugby just wanted to wrestle with Ryder and Rumor whined A LOT! So I started gating Rugby in the living room/office with me and giving Ryder and Rumor access to the rest of the house. This worked great! Rumor was quiet and everyone had freedom (they mostly slept on the couch/bed all day).

During this time Rugby also learned how to help himself to our toy box and would spend his days digging through it, taking them all out and then thrashing them around until he was tired and fell asleep in his triumph of toy domination (or when I told him he needed to stop squeaking the toys!)

In June, when ESY started and it was insanely hot, I decided to move my home office to my bedroom where my only AC unit is. Rugby came with me and spent most days sleeping on my bed or curled around my computer staring at me. At this point Rugby was showing some signs of increased separation anxiety (after having spent 3 months with me almost 24/7) so he got gated in the kitchen and Ryder and Rumor in the living room. It was weird for me not having a dog wandering around but I knew it was necessary to ease the transition back in the fall.

The last week of ESY, I switched back to my office (with it not being quite as hot). Rumor and Rugby each crated for the morning sessions before going into our normal rotation routine. I figure getting them used to crating again will only be helpful when I go back to school in the fall as it looks like I will be.

I’m not surprised by how well Ryder transitioned, but I’m pleasantly surprised with both Rumor and Rugby. The black and whites were both around when I was in grad school which aside from being in class, included a lot of quiet time with my working at my desk (studying, working on assignments, etc). but the red dog hasn’t really known what it’s like to have me home and not be able to focus on him.

I’m really going to miss working remotely, the company I work for is big on work life balance and taking care of yourself. So that meant one of the things I needed to help keep my sanity was being able to get up and walk away from the computer when students no showed. I loved being able to take those breaks to play and train with my boys.

Did you work from home during the pandemic? Was this a new experience or your typical everyday? Let us know in the comments below!