Dog Sitting

Lirin

They drool over most things, and liberally shed hair everywhere. Ours get excited if a pin drops, and there's two sets of eyes constantly watching you. R Collie leans up against us all the time, trying to appear cute. Lab cleans your face in a couple of very enthusiastic licks. It's a given fact that wherever I need to stand, sit or walk, there's a mound of slumbering dog in my way. But- I wouldn't change them for the world, and I'd miss them like crazy.

You'll be dog-sitting soon again!

seven-day-weekend

We are now professional Dogsitters and work for an agency!:):rotfl:

Last weekend we looked after a nice old Lab and a mad cat. The Lab had a pear and a piece of toast for his breakfast and didn't need walking, as the people lived in a big house and it wore him out to go once round the garden. Easy Peasy! Being old and well-behaved, but a Lab nevertheless, he wanted MY toast too at breakfast and stared at it all the way on it's journey to my mouth. Nice weekend though.

Then since Monday we are sitting a Siberian Husky. Being a husky, she does not like to come in the house. She spends most of her time in the garden, even if it is raining, although she does come in at night. She 'digs' a hole in the garden as if it were a snowdrift, curls up with her nose under her paws to keep her nose warm and sleeps there most of the day.

She would be really good with Cesar Millan, pulling him along on his inline skates! Although she does not pull on the lead, she puts her head down and her body into sledge-pulling mode and off she goes, trotting along.

Just found out she hates my husband's guitar, she howls at it and will not come near it when he is playing (I re-assured him his playing wasn't THAT bad!).

We're looking after her (in Oxford :T) until Saturday.

Will keep the thread updated with our dogsitting experiences.

rising_from_the_ashes

Ohhhhh SDW ...... really looking forward to hearing more stories!

seven-day-weekend

Sitting the nice old lab and mad cat again.

Just realised the dog isn't as well behaved as I thought he was, he is just very quietly disobedient. It was time for his walk round the garden. He didn't wan't to go. I used my best Cesar Millan voice and body language, he just continued to lie down and wag his tail. Husband tried to pick him up to make him stand, he rolled over onto his back and wagged his tail (the dog, not my husband).

Bit stuck then, as he HAD to do what we said, othrwise it would undermine our authority (authority?????). So tried a bit of Victoria Stillwell bribery with a bonio. That worked.

Got dog into garden, where I walked round the huge lawn and dog lay on it in the sun. I kept calling him and sounding excited, but he didn't want any of it.

Gave up and came in.

krlyr

You've mentioned Cesar Millan a few times - I would definately recommend a Victoria Stillwell type approach over his methods, as you can see, bribery often works a lot better! You got him to move because he wanted to move, rather than using physical force or the fear of it. Grabbing a stranger's dog is a good way to get yourself bitten - he may be a sedate, elderly Lab but if he had sore hips or a touch of arthritis in his wrists, you may have got a rather abrupt snap for your troubles. If he's reluctant to get up then perhaps he is suffering a bit of pain?

seven-day-weekend

Dog just been RUNNING round the garden with husband!

(ETA, the dog is not a stranger, we have sat him before, and my husband didn't actually pick him up, just 'eased' him in the right direction).

jumpedtheshark

seven-day-weekend wrote: »

Sitting the nice old lab and mad cat again.

Just realised the dog isn't as well behaved as I thought he was, he is just very quietly disobedient. It was time for his walk round the garden. He didn't wan't to go. I used my best Cesar Millan voice and body language, he just continued to lie down and wag his tail. Husband tried to pick him up to make him stand, he rolled over onto his back and wagged his tail (the dog, not my husband).

Bit stuck then, as he HAD to do what we said, othrwise it would undermine our authority (authority?????). So tried a bit of Victoria Stillwell bribery with a bonio. That worked.

Got dog into garden, where I walked round the huge lawn and dog lay on it in the sun. I kept calling him and sounding excited, but he didn't want any of it.

Gave up and came in.

I know you weren't asking for opinions but... Personally, if a dog I was sitting for didn't want to go out, I'd leave him/her be and mention it the next time I spoke to the owner. The dog could be in pain, ill, etc. and, as every dog is different, unless I knew for sure that that dog was behaving in a way that was normal for him/her, I wouldn't attempt to make it do anything it didn't happily want to do.

We have a dog-sitter for our two, and I always make it clear that everything has to be at their pace at the time regardless of the general instructions about exercise, etc. If our dog sitter has any issues when we're away he'll always e-mail/text/phone to double-check. I'd much rather a sitter contacted me over something minor than potentially misjudged it.

seven-day-weekend

Thanks for the good advice.

jumpedtheshark

I may be unusual, but I think I'm more relaxed on holiday knowing that our sitter will get in touch if there are any issues, even minor ones. I guess some people might not prefer that...

If it were one of our two, for example, who didn't want to go out:
* if it's raining or sometimes even just wet, the smaller one is a princess, and won't go into the back garden, but would love an on-leash walk ('neighbourhood sentry duty' in her mission-oriented mind);
* if we open the back door for the smaller one, and she doesn't want to go out, she'll trot away at speed
* the bigger one is afraid of thunder and fireworks, even other random loud noises, and may sniff them in the air long after they've passed, and won't go out back;
* the bigger one also sees the couch as the best place for her now she's getting on a bit, and won't go out into the garden after it's dark, though would also love a late-night leash walk. However, after her late-night 'big drink', her favourite thing is go out back regardless of weather!;
* in addition, however, the bigger one has a medical condition (Addison's disease), arthritis, and a back knee that is post-surgery functional, but will never be perfect, and the smaller one also has arthritis.
Just to give you a sense of the difficulty in guessing what might or might not be going on in their minds.

seven-day-weekend

The client has to fill in a form with all this sort of information about their pets. We have a pre- sit visit which they don't have to pay for for them to do this and for us to ask any questions about walks, feeding, medication etc. The idea is to look after the animals the way the clients want you to. They are the customers, after all!

So we don't go in 'cold', we do know a little bit about the animals we are looking after, and are knowledgeable about things like medication, special diets or whether they have any medical conditions etc, and if the client said, for example, that their dog is scared of fireworks, we would ask how they would like us to care for the dog under those circumstances.

We would always respect the client's wishes, but of course you have to use your own common sense as well.