I’ve been practicing the art of stealth packing. What is stealth packing you ask? It’s trying to pack without letting your dog or cat or various pets know that you are going on a trip. Once your furry friends see the dreaded suitcase, it’s all over.

The first time you pull out one of those weird rectangular containers that zip up the side, your pet has no idea why you are putting clothes in such a strange place. Then you leave, and return home, and your pet knows with certainty that suitcases are evil things that mean you’re about to abandon them for days, maybe even weeks.

The mere glimpse of a suitcase can bring on moping and despair. Cat’s will climb into the suitcase and refuse to move because that way you have to take them with you. Dogs will lay in front of the door, to try and keep you from leaving the house. Our garage is off of our laundry room. My husband renamed it The Laundry Room of Despair because when I leave for a trip my dogs would lay in there and look at the door, sighing and waiting for me to walk back through it. Oh, the guilt. This may be why I don’t travel often.

This is also why my clothes and toiletries for #UTOPIA2016 are placed in laundry baskets and ziplock bags rather than suitcases. I will wait until the last minute to bring out the harbingers of doom and hope that the dogs don’t catch on. I swear Pete the shitzu is already looking at me with suspicion.

Check out this post: Pets Who Can’t Believe You’re Not Taking Them With You.

How do your pets act when you pull out suitcases?