Dog Sitting

I've just now recovered from my "weekend with the dogs."  It was actually fun talking to non-human beings and swimming in my brother's pool.  However, his house is so big, that  it exhausted me to go from one end to the other, just to let the dogs out.

Now these dogs all have their own little personalities.  "Keeper" (my favorite) is a giant Mastiff and so gentle and slow.  She kind of just meanders around and plunks down with a big grunt like she's exhausted.  She snores quite loud, drools and looks at you with pitiful, beautiful eyes.  I just couldn't help it - I had to give her more cookies.

"Finnegan" is a beautiful male Collie that actually looks like Lassie.  He's got so much fur that a little dog could get lost in it.  Finnegan was also extremely gentle and meandered around, plopping down whenever meandering became too much.  He would go out at night and would not come back, which was frustrating to me.  I would let him out and he would go running and barking his head off and sometimes did not come back until the next morning.  That's really not a problem, because Danny lives on several acres of land and his neighbors are far enough away.  Finnegan's nose was long and funny, like a beak, and so I had a hard time kissing him -- so I just pet him on the head.

"Emma" is Danny's daughter's dog and is a Shitzu.  She's a very cool dog, kind of funny looking with her teeth sticking out like she has buck teeth, but I think that's the way they all look.  She is a small, compact dog, but is actually the oldest and the leader of the pack.  If she starts barking, then one by one, they all follow suit.  Finnegan and Keeper bark from their lying position, unless it is a real danger, like someone ringing the doorbell, then they all bark like maniacs until the danger is over.  The two Chihuaha's never get when the danger is over, however.  They continue to bark and bark and bark long after everyone else is quiet.  They must just like to hear themselves bark, much like some people I know...

"Drover" and "Lady" are the two Chiuhaha's that bark and run hand in hand, like lovers.  Drover warmed up to me quickly, but Lady took a few days before she would carefully let me pet her.  By the time I left, she was my friend and I felt like I actually accomplished something. 

Now these dogs are wonderful, loving, loyal and beautiful except for one bad habit:  waking me up at 4 am to go potty.  I didn't know I could yell at them to "shut up and go back to sleep," until my brother came home and told me.  So, like the dutiful dogsitter that I was, I walked to the other end of the house every morning around 4 am and let the dogs outside to do their thing.  I sat at the dining room table, nodding off until I heard the little pitter patter of their feet coming back to the door.  So, one by one (and I counted them each time), they came back except for Emma and Finnegan, who at 4:00 in the morning, were barking their heads off.  It's dark at that hour and I kept thinking the neighbors are going to kill me, but they never did come over to complain.  If they didn't come back when I called, I closed the door, pretending they didn't live there and went back to sleep. 

Now going to sleep in my brother's bed is quite a feat indeed.  It is almost as high as I am tall and either you have to high jump with one of those sticks to get onto it or you have to use the doggy stairs at the end of the bed.  I chose the latter as I was never good at high jump.  Climbing the stairs, I used my cane to balance, and I felt like a tightrope walker.  When I got to the top, I threw my cane on the bed and awkwardly bounced onto it, rolling over to the pillow end.  It was all very dramatic and I'm surprised that I didn't break my neck.  Getting out of the bed was relatively easy:  I just slid down it like a slide until I landed on my feet.  I don't understand why people have such high beds.  There's probably some useful thing about it, but I prefer ones that I can sit on the edge while my feet are able to touch the floor.  Subconsciously, all night I was very aware of the edge of the bed.  I imagined falling off of the side and breaking a bodily part, as the floor is all tile.  Then I would have to crawl or slide to my phone which was plugged in the kitchen, on the other side of the house.  Thank God I never fell.  Imagining it was bad enough.

I had an enjoyable time with these interesting creatures and got to know them fairly well.  I miss having a dog and one of these days I'm going to look into getting another one.  Until then, I'll just have to visit Danny more often and play with his.  As long as I don't have to wake up at 4 in the morning, I'm cool.