Living Alone with Three Dogs in the Time of Covid

Would you please stop fucking barking??

I’m among the lucky, working for the government in a government town. Full time employed, full salary and benefits. We got sent to work from home on March 13.

The dog walking service had to close when the rest of the economy closed in March. So since the 13th of March I’ve been living full time with three dogs. I was sick the next week with some mysterious lung infection so for the next month I didn’t leave the house unless it was to walk the dogs and sometimes not even then.

Here they are in all their glory: Brownie (not brown); Lelos — look at his toes!! Rolo. Notice the lack of grass under their feets? Yeah, mud pit after every rain.

I love them dearly, truly. I am not sure that I want to spend 24 hours a day 7 days a week in their company, especially to the exclusion of all humans. I also feel like some time when my life is does not revolve around them and their needs would be welcome.

I long for time when I’m not bombarded with crazy barking because someone closed a car door, or a squirrel crossed their eyeline, or a dog walked by outside — which happens constantly because everyone else is also working from home. The dog parade goes right past my house down a path that runs beside my back yard and into a park, where folks let their pups run off leash (despite the not-very-obvious signs saying NO DOGS).