Dogs in the hotel!

Extraordinary circumstances:
it's the aftermath of BombCyclone Storm Riley on the Atlantic Coast in the U.S.
Here in Massachusetts, so many families have been flooded out of house and home
that hotels as well as shelters are filled.
I have other reasons for being in a hotel this weekend, and was here as early as Thursday, before the storm hit.
Then the storm, and suddenly the hotel was full to capacity, as it would not otherwise have been.
Many of these families have dogs.

The hotel is dog-friendly and because some families are in such dire straits, the hotel is helping all it can.
Some of the families, of course,
were not flooded out --
their homes merely had power outages,
and if and when power is restored
(some will have a week to wait!),
these latter families will have homes to return to.

I feel sorry for the dogs because, take my word for it,
they do NOT want to be here. They want to go HOME.
And this is NOT HOME, and what are we DOING HERE?! say the dogs.
No, not like a talking movie or anything --
but trust me, these dogs have excellent powers of non-verbal communication.
Trembling, some of them, like little leaves. Or big leaves.
Then there was the owner who hoisted his terrier to one shoulder,
a very wide-eyed terrier,
and the startled owner said, "He's CLINGING to me."

Now, the human children have life a little easier,
because this hotel has got
an indoor heated swimming pool. Whoopee!
You should have heard it yesterday, Saturday evening.
Every swim-worthy child in the hotel was in that pool
and you could hear the joyful noise of it from one end of the ground floor to the other.

Which also got on the dogs' nerves.
We'll all be relieved when this is past.