Quote: Molly Graf

I own and run a boarding kennel near Carlisle, PA. It's 2 miles off 81 which is one route north/south that may not be too far out of your way. I am definately familier with working-line GSDs and would be happy to keep him.

molly graf

81 is an bit longer for East Coast to Florida but 81 to 77 to 26 to 95 is INCREDIBLY scenic until you get about 40 miles north of Charlotte, NC where it is then still a lot nicer than 95.

 Quote: Nancy Jocoy

 Quote: Molly Graf

I own and run a boarding kennel near Carlisle, PA. It's 2 miles off 81 which is one route north/south that may not be too far out of your way. I am definately familier with working-line GSDs and would be happy to keep him.

molly graf

81 is an bit longer for East Coast to Florida but 81 to 77 to 26 to 95 is INCREDIBLY scenic until you get about 40 miles north of Charlotte, NC where it is then still a lot nicer than 95.

Well, considering how long our drive will be, and that we have to get a son back to school by a certain time, I'm not sure how scenic we're going to be able to be! We are going to be stopping in Savannah and I hear that's beautiful. My fiance is wanting to move there, so we're going to just glance at it. If so, they better be dog-friendly!

Can just say something real quick...

1st, if you wanna bring him to FL with you, I'm 20 minutes from Disney. He could stay with me and my czech shepherd .

Secondly, without trying to be ignorantly harsh without knowing this Eric fellow, I'm appalled at his "personality?" towards taking care of your dog. I am a senior pre-vet student who will be applying this year to vet school, and I can't believe a man who can't take an "active" dog is going to become a vet. That's like a med student saying he doesn't like active people. The man doesn't even have enough maturity to let it go that the dog barked in the morning? HELLO HE'S A PUPPY!

I'm sorry he's prolly a very nice guy who will make a good vet. I've just met FAR more vets/ future vets who really beg the question "why are you doing this?", than those who actually impressed me. Most of them don't even seem to be "animal people".

Sorry just had to rant...

Well, after re-reading my post, I probably did Eric a disservice. He does love all animals, and since I've known him for about 10 years...waaay before vet school, I really know for a fact that he doesn't dislike any animal.

BUT people, even vets, do have preferences for what kind of animal they themselves would choose to live with. As for Eric, he prefers to share his living space with calm, soft dogs. This does not mean he hates my dog.

Spending time with a high-energy working line 15 week old German Shepherd puppy can sometimes test the patience of even those who love these kinds of dogs .

Add to that the fact that he's a third-year vet student with a HUGE amount of studying, stress and sleep deprivation (oh, you'll see!! You will not believe the work load and stress! ) and a tiny living space and a roommate to deal with and I think you'll be a little more sympathetic to his situation. The sleep-deprivation and spastically long hours spent studying might help you understand why the 6am barking tweaked him. We all act a little nuts when we're exhausted.

He's offering to take the puppy DESPITE all of this because he does love our familiy and doesn't want Carbon in one of our local kennels. He actually agreed to do it because it's better than the kennels around Cape Cod, if you can believe it!

So. I shouldn't have made Eric sound that negative and I would have been a little more clear, but I didn't want to take what was already an outrageously long post and make it even longer.

SO: Wrong place for Carbon to be? Yes, but it's not because Eric's an ogre!

This may be too late, but I work at a boarding kennel in MA that, at the very least, is clean with knowledgable staff and an owner that really does care. We do a lot of puppies and have worked with working dogs in the past (the owner of the kennel owns an ex-police dog).

We offer boarding, daycare, basic pet obedience, and baths. I'm PMing you our URL now.

UPDATE:

I have a good friend and former dog-training mentor who recently lost her GSD, Zenith, to bloat. For the last two weeks everytime I talked to her, she was miserable and depressed. She has no family and this dog was her life. He was an amazing dog, too, and a beautiful bi-color that looked very much like my Carbon.

She was the first person that came to mind when it came time to dog-sit, but I didn't ask her or even mention that I was looking because I was afraid she'd think I was hinting or pressuring her or being insensitive. She has said many times that Carbon really reminds her of Zenith as a pup, so I thought it might make her sad to be around him.

Well, my finace didn't know that I hadn't mentioned anything to her and bumped into her this morning at the coffee shop. He told her that we hadn't yet decided what we were doing with Carbon during the trip to FL.

So I get a call from her, hurt, saying "Why didn't you ask me?" And I explained and it turns out that she would love to have him. She said she thinks it will be good for her, actually. SO! To make a long story short, she's watching Carbon and even staying at my place so that she can water plants, feed fish and even take care of the Corgi who was originally going to go to my parent's. She's even going to continue is obedience for me!

It's a wonderful arrangement, and I feel stupid for not asking her to begin with!

I just wanted to thank every person who responded to this post in PMs and replies. All wonderful options and so many of them. I really appreciate how great of a resource this board is and how wonderful the people are.

A special thank you to Judy Troiano who went WAY above the call of duty to help me out.

You. All. Rock.

Amber,
I am SO pleased that this all worked out for you. Being worried about your pet while you're on vacation does not make for a very good time!

 Quote: Diane Joslin

Amber,
I am SO pleased that this all worked out for you. Being worried about your pet while you're on vacation does not make for a very good time!

Ditto!

And I want to add that for me, it has been well worth the $$ to have a dog- and house-sitter when I travel. Even if the dogs miss me (which they probably don't as long as the meals are on time), they are in their own house.

And I really like not leaving my house empty, too.

My vet keeps a binder in the waiting room for pet services to put ads, including individuals who do walking, potty visits, etc. This was how I found my (bonded) sitter.

At our training club, I have heard that other vets and grooming places have similar bulletin boards or the like.

 Quote: Amber Morgan

A special thank you to Judy Troiano who went WAY above the call of duty to help me out.

Any time girlfriend!