Hi everyone, i've been away from home (New Zealand) for just over a year now (Italy) and i'm realising day-by-day that i've been kidding myself about shifting half away around the globe...and just how hard it could be. I knew i'd have to get up 6 in the morning even in freezing winter to talk to my boyfriend where it would be 6pm over there...that didn't bother me. I knew i'd miss my mum's food...even THIS haven't gotten the worst of me. But what has been a slow but definately an exponential turmoil for me as i've found myself settling down temporarily in Italy was not being able to do the things i usually do with my dog! yes, my dog! I swear i miss him almost as much as my boyfriend at times...i just hope he (my boyfriend) doesn't read this!

To share my crazy behaviours and endeavours towards surviving my long distance relationship with my miniature poodle born on 05/05/2000...please read on-

It started with a simple dream- of me and him doing mundane things like playing in the garden or watching T.V. together...but when weeks turned to months i caught myself day-dreaming about my dog walking past my home window. I really started to miss him at this point.

I then turned to putting up pictures of him everywhere around me such as: my desktop background, my room, at work, in my kitchen...but this only made things worse...much worse. I then went on to talking to my parents who are looking after my dog and making him talk to me and if not to hear my voice. Then i discovered skype. Well actually, i was waiting for my brother to help my parents set up skype so we could chat.

My parents were so excited that they could chat to me face-to-face for free of charge but all i could think about was seeing his cute little face and his snout through the webcam and so i did. It was great!

Seeing him relieved my sadness a little and although it took awhile (3 months at that!) for him to realise what was going on- things were going well between us. Of course it still wasn't enough...

I went on to giving him instructions such as "shut the door" or  "sit"- but nothing fulfilled my satisfaction more than when i told him to "bring it" and he went out to retrieve ALL his toys one by one and placed it neatly on the desk right in front of the webcam where i could see. I literally started crying and at the same time i felt the hole inside me slowly fill up with joy.

If you are on a long distance relationship with your dog, try to chat with him/her via webcam and do as i did. For me it took at least a few months until he semi-knew what was going on so you need to be patient. Oh yeah and i forgot to mention, your dog will need assistance getting on the desk or if you have a laptop, in front of the screen on the floor (this would probably work better). My mum had to point to the screen several times before he fixed his view towards me!

For all those planning to leave their dogs on a long-term basis...good luck!!