Charlie and Lexie answer important questions during their intake interview at Camp Bow Wow.

Most pet owners know planning for a vacation can get complicated.

Now add a puppy and an ailing dog to the mix. To put it simply, I’m not anxious to hand them over to anyone.

Back when Lexie was younger, going out of town was easy. Sometimes even last-minute. I’d call a friend to check in on her and feed her once a day. With the dog door, she needed very little supervision. As she aged, and her anxiety rose, we started to use doggie day care or would board her for short trips.

Now Matt and I are preparing our first major trip together. On a plane, even! Between Lexie’s limited mobility and assorted medical issues, and the fact that Charlie is 100 percent puppy, we realized we would need to board them. On occasion I had used Camp Bow Wow in Ann Arbor for doggie daycare with Lexie. So we looked into it, and it ends up there’s a Camp Bow Wow closer to our house, as well.

Since Charlie had never been to Camp Bow Wow before, we made an appointment for an intake interview and tour. We were shown the cabin that Lexie and Charlie will share, their indoor/outdoor play area (monitored by webcams) and left the pups in a large playroom for their interview.

We were allowed to watch from the lobby on a large monitor.

Both dogs eagerly interacted with the woman running the interview, then different kinds of dogs with varying energy levels were brought in. Lexie mostly ignored them, and Charlie wanted to play. Afterward, I was told to leave them for a couple hours so the staff could figure out which play group to assign them to.

After grabbing lunch, I went back and spotted Lexie trotting at a moderate speed across the screen. Was that my geriatric dog? She looked great. And Charlie was running back and forth, his tail up in the air, the tip curled. Was he smiling?

Charlie takes a good photo.

I made my appointment for our upcoming trip, and received a welcome report on Charlie. Both dogs were assigned to play in the small dog group. That sounds perfect.

The guy at the front desk assured me they both did great, and will do fine when I bring them back.

I know they can’t wait.