Adventures in Dog Sitting

[[Bu...]]

Ok, so last November my fur-baby very unexpectedly pasted away.  It was awful, heartbreaking, especially during the early days of withdrawal.  Along with missing him intensely specifically, I also just generally miss having a dog.  I am nowhere near ready to get another one, but my neighbor was in a bind and asked us to dog sit.  She's going on a cruise and while he usually goes with her, he can't this time because of some strict laws at one of the ports. 

Anyway, Woody doesn't know us very well, just some barking, tail wagging, and petting (what a good boy!) in the outside breezeway, but we thought, "Hey, what the heck".   So, he was dropped off yesterday with his bed, his blankie, his favorite sushi-shaped squeaky toys and chicken treats.  

He said bye to his Mama with the assumed certainty, I'm sure, that she would be right back.  When reality set in, we had a couple of sad moments during the evening, but he soon learned that we had a cushy couch and many, many, soft, plush blankies of our own that we would gladly share.  He did refuse his supper, but ate a treat and took a few sips of water.  He did an exploration of our apartment, the mirror image of his, which must have been odd for him.  We took a good walk and then it was time for bed. 

His mama said that he sleeps on the bed with her.  Now there is no way with all my benzo-induced pain, and tossing and turning, that he could sleep on the bed with me.  But she thought he would sleep just fine on the floor in his bed (HA!).  I put his bed on the floor next to mine with all his toys and blankies, put his food and water next to it, added one of the blankets from our couch that he had claimed as his own, and made him a very comfy apartment, if I may say so myself. 

I patted his bed, said, "Time to get in bed for night-night"  and he promptly tried to jump into my bed.  It is, apparently, several inches taller than his mom's, so he would have bounced off the side, but instead all four feet got tangled in the woven blanket hanging down the side and we all had a moment of sheer panic.  My husband, thankfully, caught him and disentangled him and then put him in his bed.  He promptly climbed out and sat staring at my bed.  We put him back in his bed.  He climbed back out.  Back in.  Back out.  Ok...Hmmm...Well...Now what?  Stalemate.  I tried closing the door to the room.  Nope. That just made the, up-until-now very soft sounds coming from the back of his throat, I bit louder.  Ok.  Leave the door open and leave some low lights in the hallway and living room.  

I climbed in bed, turned down the lights and waited... You're move little puppy-pop.  Several minutes went by...nothing.  I slightly cracked open one eye, hoping he was in bed.  He was sitting like a cute little stone statue at the side of my bed staring at me very patiently, like I was an idiot who forgot the most important thing in the house- the doggy needs to sleep in the people bed, not on the floor.  What did I think he was, some sort of animal?!?  

I quickly closed my eye hoping he hadn't seen it.  A-less-than-soft sound came from the side of the bed.  Hmm, busted.  I opened my eyes and again explained that I would be a terrible bed-mate with all my restlessness, and would surely keep him awake.  I gave him another tour of his apartment and settled back down to wait.  A loud "HUFF" from the floor.  Then again nothing.  I peeked again and didn't see him.  Did he get in his bed?  No (why would I think that?).  Did he go around the other side of mine?  No. Under my bed?  Still no.  I looked in the hall.  Nothing.  Where'd he go? 

I found him (in relative darkness) curled up on the couch in the living room on two blankets.  I whispered "Woody, you ok?" , "Are you going to sleep here".  He answered me by hunkering down into the arm of the couch and shot me a look which could only say,  "I told you, I no sleep on the floor, what you think I is, an animal?" and promptly went to sleep.

[[...]]

Thank you, @[Bu...] I was smiling all the time while reading the story and even now. Yet i can imagin it must have been a bit trying on you)

Hope the cute doggy is ok🐕

[[Bu...]]

Hi @[...], We still have him for another week.  His mama is on a rather long trip; two cruises with a stop over in Florida for a couple of days in between them.  He is a very sweet dog and we've all settled in fairly well now.  He did give us quite a bit of anxiety over eating though.  He is supposed to have three treats a day and then have his food in the evening.  He's been eating the treats (of course) but snubbing his food almost completely, only eating a handful at a time.  We've tried every trick we can imagine to get him to eat.  

Finally, today his mama called to check on him and told us that he only eats about 15-20 tiny pieces of kibble a day and some days he doesn't eat any of it!  I would have loved to have learned that a week ago!  Would have saved us a lot of worry.  Oh well, it turns out then that he's doing just fine. 

 

[[Ta...]]

On 15/08/2024 at 09:31, [[B...] said:

Ok, so last November my fur-baby very unexpectedly pasted away.  It was awful, heartbreaking, especially during the early days of withdrawal.  Along with missing him intensely specifically, I also just generally miss having a dog.  I am nowhere near ready to get another one, but my neighbor was in a bind and asked us to dog sit.  She's going on a cruise and while he usually goes with her, he can't this time because of some strict laws at one of the ports. 

Anyway, Woody doesn't know us very well, just some barking, tail wagging, and petting (what a good boy!) in the outside breezeway, but we thought, "Hey, what the heck".   So, he was dropped off yesterday with his bed, his blankie, his favorite sushi-shaped squeaky toys and chicken treats.  

He said bye to his Mama with the assumed certainty, I'm sure, that she would be right back.  When reality set in, we had a couple of sad moments during the evening, but he soon learned that we had a cushy couch and many, many, soft, plush blankies of our own that we would gladly share.  He did refuse his supper, but ate a treat and took a few sips of water.  He did an exploration of our apartment, the mirror image of his, which must have been odd for him.  We took a good walk and then it was time for bed. 

His mama said that he sleeps on the bed with her.  Now there is no way with all my benzo-induced pain, and tossing and turning, that he could sleep on the bed with me.  But she thought he would sleep just fine on the floor in his bed (HA!).  I put his bed on the floor next to mine with all his toys and blankies, put his food and water next to it, added one of the blankets from our couch that he had claimed as his own, and made him a very comfy apartment, if I may say so myself. 

I patted his bed, said, "Time to get in bed for night-night"  and he promptly tried to jump into my bed.  It is, apparently, several inches taller than his mom's, so he would have bounced off the side, but instead all four feet got tangled in the woven blanket hanging down the side and we all had a moment of sheer panic.  My husband, thankfully, caught him and disentangled him and then put him in his bed.  He promptly climbed out and sat staring at my bed.  We put him back in his bed.  He climbed back out.  Back in.  Back out.  Ok...Hmmm...Well...Now what?  Stalemate.  I tried closing the door to the room.  Nope. That just made the, up-until-now very soft sounds coming from the back of his throat, I bit louder.  Ok.  Leave the door open and leave some low lights in the hallway and living room.  

I climbed in bed, turned down the lights and waited... You're move little puppy-pop.  Several minutes went by...nothing.  I slightly cracked open one eye, hoping he was in bed.  He was sitting like a cute little stone statue at the side of my bed staring at me very patiently, like I was an idiot who forgot the most important thing in the house- the doggy needs to sleep in the people bed, not on the floor.  What did I think he was, some sort of animal?!?  

I quickly closed my eye hoping he hadn't seen it.  A-less-than-soft sound came from the side of the bed.  Hmm, busted.  I opened my eyes and again explained that I would be a terrible bed-mate with all my restlessness, and would surely keep him awake.  I gave him another tour of his apartment and settled back down to wait.  A loud "HUFF" from the floor.  Then again nothing.  I peeked again and didn't see him.  Did he get in his bed?  No (why would I think that?).  Did he go around the other side of mine?  No. Under my bed?  Still no.  I looked in the hall.  Nothing.  Where'd he go? 

I found him (in relative darkness) curled up on the couch in the living room on two blankets.  I whispered "Woody, you ok?" , "Are you going to sleep here".  He answered me by hunkering down into the arm of the couch and shot me a look which could only say,  "I told you, I no sleep on the floor, what you think I is, an animal?" and promptly went to sleep.

Love your writing style! Felt like I was right there with you all. "Woody" is the name of our pet hummingbird that comes here multiple times a day. I smiled thinking of how similar the two Woody's are. Fiercely Independent, strong-minded, and STUBBORN! YAY for Woody's everywhere!

[[Bu...]]

9 minutes ago, [[T...] said:

YAY for Woody's everywhere!

Indeed!!!!  And thanks for the compliment!

Does your little hummingbird migrate or are you in a spot where they stay all year?  I love watching them, but they are all pretty much gone for the season where I am.

And as an update, Woody's mama went on another cruise, but he went with her this time.  Unfortunately there was an outbreak of Covid on the ship, so when they got back they had to rest up for awhile.  Everyone is fine now, but we didn't see Woody for almost a month.  I was so worried that he would forget us.  But last week we went over to see if he wanted to take a walk and he was so excite to see us!  He didn't want to go in even after walking for about 45 minutes.  It did my heart good, he's just so sweet. ❤

[[Ta...]]

Our Woody is here year round. I have seen him at the feeder when there was a foot of snow on the ground (rare!) In the Fall, I take the screen out of my bedroom window so the cat can come in quickly if she needs to. While open, Woody flew into my bedroom and stared at me in mid-air! The feeder was empty!!! (Absolutely TRUE story!)

[[Bu...]]

@[Ta...], That is an amazing story!  And I guess he has you trained now to fill his feeder! 😃

[[Ta...]]

3 minutes ago, [[B...] said:

@[Ta...], That is an amazing story!  And I guess he has you trained now to fill his feeder! 😃

That little bird has got me WHIPPED! I am wrapped around his little wing!!!

[[Bu...]]

12 minutes ago, [[T...] said:

That little bird has got me WHIPPED! I am wrapped around his little wing!!!

When I was very little, my grandmother had a northern Cardinal that she would feed everyday.  My grandpa built a little tray feeder and put it on a pole right off their back porch so she wouldn't have to leave the porch to put out the seed.  I remember that that bird would come and just sit on the step and wait for her when the tray was empty.  Occasionally, he would even eat out of her hand.

I had never heard of anyone else lucky enough to have that kind of relationship with a wild bird until now!  That's so awesome!