The Weekend a Dog Comes to Stay: Slow Mornings and a Proper Travel Kit

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I do not have a dog. The flat is too small, the landlord is too firm about it, and I am honest enough with myself to know that my quiet mornings would not survive one. But for a long weekend every autumn, I have a dog anyway, because my brother drives up to stay and he never comes alone.

This is a post about those mornings, which are nothing like my usual ones, and about what I have noticed makes a dog’s stay in someone else’s home go well. It is also about the bag that comes out of my brother’s car before anything else does.

A different kind of first hour

My usual morning is quiet to the point of being slightly ridiculous. Kettle, cup, the window, no phone. When the dog is here, the first hour starts with a cold nose under the duvet at about six, and goes from there.

I have come to love it, in small doses. There is something about making coffee with a dog watching every move, completely certain that something good is about to happen to him, that makes the whole ritual feel less solemn. He sits by the kitchen door. He follows the kettle with his eyes. When I sit down by the window with the cup, he lies across my feet, and the slow morning becomes slower and warmer than it usually is.

What I noticed about dogs away from home

Watching the same dog visit year after year, I have started to notice what makes the difference between a weekend that goes smoothly and one that does not. None of this is expert advice, just a guest-room observer’s notes.

Familiar things matter more than new ones

The first year my brother forgot his bed and I made one out of an old wool blanket on the floor. The dog did not sleep. The next year the proper bed came, smelling of home, and he was asleep in the corner within half an hour. A strange flat is fine. A strange bed, it turns out, is not.

Routine travels better than you expect

Same feeding times, same bowl, same walk first thing. My brother is not a routine person in any other area of life, but he keeps the dog’s routine exactly when they are away, and it shows.

The car is part of the stay

It is a long drive up. How the dog travels, whether he is secure, whether he has water and a familiar blanket, decides the mood he arrives in. A dog that arrives settled has a much better first evening.

Pack for the host’s home too

This one is selfish. A lint roller, a towel for wet paws by the door, something to protect the sofa. The linen in my flat is forgiving, but not infinitely.

The travel kit, and where it comes from

My brother’s dog bag has got better every year. It used to be a carrier bag of odds and ends. Now it is a proper kit: bed, bowls, food in a sealed container, a lead and a spare, poo bags, a towel, a chew for the evening, and whatever the dog has decided is his favourite toy this season.

If you are putting together something similar, Peta2z is an online pet store with supplies for dogs, cats and other animals, from beds and treats to grooming and travel accessories. They are running a travel-themed promotion at the moment, which the banner below shows, and it goes straight to their store.

As with anything for an animal, the best guide is the animal itself and the people who know it. Check sizes against your pet, introduce new things at home before a trip rather than on the day, and ask your vet about anything to do with health, food or medication before you travel.

What I do as the host

Since this is a blog about home, here is the other side of it, for anyone who has a dog to stay.

Clear one corner. A dog wants a spot that is his for the weekend. Mine is the corner by the radiator, where the light comes in.

Put the fragile things up. The low shelf with the ceramics gets emptied the night before.

Keep a towel by the door. Autumn walks mean wet paws. A towel by the door saves the floor and the rug.

Let the morning be different. It will not be quiet. It can still be good.

The quiet afterwards

When they leave on Monday, the flat feels enormous for about a day. The corner by the radiator is empty, the towel goes in the wash, and the morning goes back to the kettle and the window. I am always a little glad of the quiet, and a little sorry about it too.

If someone in your life is planning a trip with their pet, or you are, you can browse travel supplies at Peta2z here. And if a dog is coming to stay, clear a corner by the window. They like the light as much as we do.

Photos: Zen Chung and freestocks.org via Pexels.