It's official, I received my first really negative comment on my blog. My first instinct was to delete it. But then I thought, you know, I put it out there, I post personal stuff and people are bound to have their opinions. I can't really get mad about it and if I do maybe I shouldn't have this blog. Sometimes I read negative comments on other people's blogs and think "wow, that person was ballsy to say that", but think it goes with the territory of having a blog. But, with that said, just because I have a blog, just because anyone has a blog, does that give people the right to be super judgmental based on a relatively small amount of information?
So here's the comment in response to my post "home again home again":
OMG - you treated yourself to a vacation and left all those poor dogs at home to fend for themselves with your "assistant" only dropping in instead of having someone live with the dogs. How could you leave the Great Dane that is recovering from cancer. Shameful. I'm glad there are good dog owners around who care enough about their pets to sacrifice vacations to spend with their pets. Wow. I cried when I read about him on the floor unable to get up. He must have been so scared until he was found.
It kind of bugs me that I want to defend myself. I wish I was the type who could blow it off, think "this person doesn't know me", but I can't. So here goes. Yes, we went out of town and stayed with a friend's dog while she was on vacation. What I didn't put in my blog was how much I agonized over leaving, should we go, should we not. Will Preacher be okay? Is he too old for us to travel? I AGONIZED! In order to be okay with leaving town I had to have a plan. I knew by being in New York I had access to a flight home at nearly any time of day. That was comforting. I didn't hire a pet sitter who would come in for 30 minutes three times a day...it had to be people who the dogs know and are familiar with. There was a strict schedule of people in and out of the house, morning, noon, and night, so the dogs would not have to be alone for more that three hours at a time. I didn't mention all of this because truthfully, most people think I am nuts about how overboard I go with my dogs. But since it did come up, did you know...
that I call my vet to personally let him know that we are out of town and to make sure they have alternate phone numbers for emergencies?
that my parents live a little over a mile from me and come over several times a day?
that my mom came over and stayed for hours on her days off and worked in my studio so the dogs could hang out like any normal day?
that Brittany (my assistant) sat in the middle of the bed with the dogs while doing her homework and watching the Food Network in between her classes each day?
that my mom and dad watched American Idol with the dogs while having a a glass of wine?
that my dad made videos of the dogs cuddled up in my mom's lap and videos of Preacher walking around the house?
that I have my vet's personal cell phone number and I called him from New York to make sure everything was being done for Preacher?
that I had two extra people on call in case anything went wrong?
that I have a notebook with a photo of each dog, where they eat, sleep, their likes, dislikes, medications, nick names, etc?
I don't put all of that stuff in my blog because it's boring, it makes for the longest blog post ever, and it makes me sound like a nut!
I said the dogs had a rough week, I did say that. And I suppose it was rough compared to me being at home with them everyday, but they by no means were deprived or left to fend for themselves.
The fact that Preacher fell while we were gone was awful. Tom and I were sick with worry and both cried, stressed, vacillated between leaving and staying from minute to minute. As I type this I am more annoyed with myself than when I started. I shouldn't let this get to me. I think the only reason that it does is because my dogs are my life. You could insult just about anything about me, but insinuating that I am a bad dog parent is something I can't brush off.
I guess my point is this, think before you write. Do you really know enough about someone from a blog post to judge them?
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