Learning Curve

     Scout and King were a pair of German shepherds who were still maturing when we met.  I'd guess they were about a year and one-half old.  I had met and worked with a third shepherd in this family,
but he passed on during the couple of years I was employed with them.
     Shepherds are strongly opinionated and when they keep secrets from the pet sitter, all heck can break loose.  These pups were mischief with a capital M! There would be evidence of SOME BODY'S bad habits, but I couldn't discover who to blame.  Of course, the antics would occur during the times I was NOT there.
     Clean up was constant and because they were gated in the kitchen overnight, any mess would belong equally to both dogs. They took reprimands in stride and were proud that I had stopped to notice their efforts.  Mostly outside habits greeted my arrival. Not that I was delayed in my morning schedule, they just decided to un-train themselves in my absence.
     They loved to get into the kitchen cabinetry and upend the silverware drawer. Perhaps they liked the sound of cascading spoons onto the tile floor.
      Equally entertaining, apparently, was the bottom drawer of dish towels.  The game of tug of war kept them busy sometime in the dead of night.
      After multiple text messages to the homeowners, it was suggested that I buy a camera, have it installed and report back.  Six weeks was a huge chunk of time to trust the care of their dogs to a virtual stranger.  I wasn't exactly a stranger, but not living on the property, gave me a decided disadvantage.
      I had the equipment set up, learned to access the video through their home computer and spent the several weeks watching the best YouTube ever!
     Of course, there was the alpha male and after just one video clip, I deduced it was Scout. He was just bored, could get out of his kennel, tug the toggle on King's kennel and busy himself with a follow the leader - let's get into trouble - game that lasted ALL NIGHT LONG.
     How they avoided the relatively no brainer escape over the baby gate, I'll never know. I mean, if I could straddle it and I'm only five ft. four in. -  a fifty-pound dog could easily hurdle it, but they stayed in the kitchen. It was nearer to whatever smelled so good behind the closed refrigerator door.
      Once a daughter joined the family, Scout decided her baby things were his baby things. His owners were much too trusting. They would leave baby rattles and pacifiers on the kitchen counter.
They would leave the diaper genie on the floor in a bathroom and pack up the car, leaving the tempting contents readily available.  I know parents of a newborn are never in their right mind, and this couple hadn't even accomplished puppy training or perhaps they THOUGHT they had.
     "My" two handsome dogs, had the upper paw. I knew it and I gave in. I am a quick study and realized that I'd never win an argument let alone succeed with basic training.  Even if I had,
there was no guarantee that the owners would have followed through.
      On our walks, I know ONE of us got more exercise than the other two. I developed matching biceps over the six-week job. We seemed to attract more than our share of attention and the additional
well-meaning compliments caused interruption to our routine.  It never failed that within five minutes of our leaving the house, someone would come out just to say hello.  That greeting caused the dogs to forget any sense of order and they would wiggle over to the person. I would have to wiggle over as well. Can you imagine three jello cubes sliding down a cookie sheet? Well, that would be us. King would start over and his leash would demand I follow him which in turn pulled Scout to a new direction. Once the greeting committee retreated, we would reassemble and begin again. A thirty-minute walk became fifty minutes of stop and go. I tried to be gracious, "parking" the pair
every few minutes to chat with a total stranger. I began to keep my business cards in a pocket for a
quick retreat. I didn't work. That maneuver extended the conversation. The delay made the dogs anxious and they would head back to the middle of the street, pulling me between them as I added a hasty, "I'll be speaking with youSOOOOOooooon," with my voice trailing behind me.
      Depending on the time of the afternoon, we would pass a corner lot with an invisible fence and a very visible and audible small white terrier. She would yap, yap and taunt the boys, running the perimeter of her yard.  We got even just once. We stood at the "fence line" and barked back.  I had a few choice words to add.  She backed up and shaking her head retreated to the safety of the front porch.
     She had a full day to consider her attitude and the very next day, as we rounded the corner, she just sat on the porch and let us pass. I don't know what the dogs told her the previous day, but I praised them, "good boys", patted their heads and we kept to our path.
     Throughout my time caring for King and Scout,  nothing changed, the pranks and attention seeking activities continued. As the baby grew from pacifiers into teething rings,  I noticed an increase in dog toys. Jealousy is common in a home with babies and pets. It can be comical, it can cause concern.  Thankfully, I was never tasked with babysitting for this family. I belonged to the dogs.
      The month and one half I spent with them taught me immeasurable patience. Patience is the foundation of empathy which is the basis for compassion - and it's all good when shared with
two rambunctious German shepherds.
   
   

Yours and Mine

 There have been three exceptions to my pet sitting AT YOUR HOME rule. Over the ears and because of the relationships I had with the pet owners, their dogs stayed with me and my dogs and my cats and my children...
     Ellie Mae was a Bichon Frise, owned by a co-worker.  I don't remember the circumstances other than my friend had NEVER had a pet sitter and didn't feel comfortable with scheduled daily visits. I can not recall how many dogs I had at the time, but there were no issues. The meet and greet of the woman and Ellie Mae went smoothly. My dogs are always expecting the pack to grow, so introducing just one relatively well behaved dog to them didn't cause any aggressive behavior or feelings of jealousy.
     My reputation for not putting up with ANYTHING preceded me as I was a secretary in a middle school Attendance office. My job was to interview the students needing to go to the principal's office.  While they squirmed at my desk, I typed the discipline referrals or suspension letters which would be hand delivered to parents or guardians that same day. I had a wonderful pair of eyeglasses, which when slid halfway down my nose, gave me the appearance of The Terminator. Kids just didn't like me.
      Dogs, on the other hand, loved me and took it for granted that when the glasses slid, they needed to correct whatever behavior had preceded my glare.  Once in a while, that glare would be accompanied by my outside voice.  Enough said.
      In my house and I'm fairly certain that in yours, there are designated rooms for meal time.  The kitchen is not always the best place to feed a pack. When you have dogs that gulp their food and dogs that do not, you are inviting turf wars. I was always well aware of my dog's personalities, their eating habits, and territories. When having a guest animal in, I would always default feeding them in a bathroom behind a closed door, with me in it. My dogs would eat when the guest was fed and outside in the yard.
      Phoenix, a black and white coated spaniel, came to stay just once. The owners were having remodeling done while they vacationed.  Their cat stayed home and I traveled to visit her daily.
She was pent up in the master suite and unhappy, I'm guessing by the frantic mews which greeted
my arrivals.
     The dog was typical spaniel, needing huge chunks of time and exercise which I could not
accommodate. There was no way I would take her walking and bring the herd as well. So, no one went walking. This interruption to her routine gave her an excuse to teach my dogs how to jump over the sofa in route to see who was passing the house on the sidewalk. She could hurdle the chunky piece of furniture without a second thought about it.  My dogs, on the other hand, completed the maneuver in stages, especially the cairns.  Funny, it was always a one way kind of game. Never did I observe any of them reverse the effort, clearing the back first and land squarely on either of the seat cushions!
     Phoenix wanted to sleep with me. I think she did a couple of nights as evidenced by the flattened warm spaniel sized divots in the bedding. She never did thank me.
     Dallas who is a Yorkie-Poo began having sleepovers a couple of years ago. I used to sleep over at her house, but driving half hour in morning congestion to get back to my house to care for everyone here became a headache. So, I asked her owner if she could stay here. It has worked out well and as she is quite senior, my husband's honey-do list is getting shorter as he has installed motion detecting flood lamps in the yard for her low vision challenges. He also clears the lawn of debris, especially the pine cones which are quite painful to old dog paws.
     She sleeps on our king size bed, always at the precarious far edge, which causes both of us to sleep with one eye opened. Dallas assumes she can jump down on her own. The last time she did that at her house, she had a back leg fracture and shortly after that mishap, she was back here for a week. Her splint had to be waterproofed before she could use the yard.  It's wonderful that our newspaper's plastic sleeve was just Dallas splint size. All I needed to do was to trim the length so that it would cover foot to hip joint, tie with a pretty pink ribbon and she was good to explore the wet grass at first light.
     I have her in my care frequently, sometimes just for a playdate when her owner has exceedingly long days at work. I think her mental health benefits, having a change of scenery and plenty of playmates to keep her active. As a matter of fact, she's here now, on guard duty at my front glass storm door. Her companions are napping, scattered about on chairs, rugs, and under my makeshift card table work station.
      I am thankful that my dogs have the generosity of heart. There is definitely a lesson to be learned
from observing how they treat every guest with respect. There's no discrimination. Everyone is equal. Maybe if people were just more like their dogs.....