Dogsitting

Friday night I officially began my tenure as 'dog sitter' for my friend Kali and her family. I know all of 5 breeds of dogs so I won't try to label what kind he is, although I'm pretty sure he's a husky mixed with something or possibly a few things.

My first encounter with the dog had me laughing my head off. I struggled with the padlock (and later with the cage itself) to open it and let him out, but he was so overcome with excitement that he backed up, pushed the back of it open and walked out to greet me. He kissed me and jumped on me as I sat baffled with the closed padlock still in my hand. What, did you just put yourself back in when you heard me walk in the door?? Smart puppy. I also don't know what it is with dog cages, but I can't figure out how to open the damn things. This is sad for many reasons, the most obvious being that even the dogs I watch can figure out how to open them.

Yesterday I took Max to our family picnic and he was quite the celebrity. Upon telling Kali this she said "well, that was a mistake." Quite the contrary...my family loved him. "He's such a well behaved dog!" Kali's reaction: "REALLY!?"

When I returned that night to put him in his crate so I could stop off at home, he started barking and whining like he was being tortured. I could hear him grapling with the padlock in a vain attempt to escape. My animal sympathies got the best of me and I figured it would be ok to let him out for just a few hours while I was gone.

I returned later that night to find him thrilled to see me, and to see that excitement almost instantaneously dissolve to shame and embarassment as I discovered what he had done. I don't know how or where he got them, but he managed to get into a box of tea bags of all things. They were ripped open and nicely matted into the carpet of the computer room, as if he were making a finger painting for me (paw painting?). This time he had no objections to going into his crate as punishment. Kali told me one time they got home to find him go right into his crate because he knew he'd done something wrong. It's like the temptation is too much for him at the time but he's so disciplined he punishes himself.

Last night he slept at my feet and periodically licked my hand to wake me up and see if I felt like getting up yet. "Soon Max...soon." I fed him at 10:00 and went back to bed till 2:00. Hey, family get togethers are tiring events!

Today we went for a walk and I threw around the tennis ball for him. Before we left I had a hell of a time trying to find my car keys so I could lock the house up. I finally found them, of all places, in the keyhole of the front door. It's a good thing I made sure all the doors were locked last night. My car could have gotten stolen or I could have been raped and murdered. Luckily for me, all I ended up with was a slap on the head as I called myself various insulting names.

I'm having a lot of trouble trying to get him to pee and poo on command or when he is supposed to go. "For the love of gawd Max, please activate your bowels...it's for my well being as well as yours!!" Max doesn't listen to my begging. But he will drop the tennis ball in my lap as if to say "nah...I think I'll play instead."

He also threw up this morning. And I broke their sprinkler. Yeah. Don't think I'm going to be invited back.

I least I got free ketchup pringles out of the ordeal.