Last week and part of this week we had an extra little visitor living in our home. We dog sat for my bother in law. We already have a dog of our own he is a little guy named Patches. He is a Yorkie- tees and he is a bit of a hand full because he has a disease called Addison's disease.
He needs more care then most dogs (daily medication) and he has some nervous habits because of his condition. Any little thing that makes him even the slightest bit nervous causes him to pee in the spot that he is in. For instance if the were to approach him while he is on the couch to say hello he would instantly pee.
If he were to have some food in his mouth and you would try to get it away from him he would growl at you and definitely nip you and yes he would pee. Some small children make him nervous too. He has nipped my nephew who was just sitting beside him.
He cannot go for a walk without barking at every dog that he sees. I am painting a picture of a not so well behaved dog but really he is a very sweet dog. It has been difficult to train him and help him to understand because of his condition.
Anyhow our house guest is a small Bichon Frisce. Her name is Yuki. I wondered what the 6 days with her would be like. Yuki and Patches have spent time together before so I knew that they would definitely get along. I knew that it would be an easy weekend when Yuki was handed over with a Tupperware full of food and her bed and no long note attached.
When ever anyone has dog sat for us there is generally a 2 page note with instrucitons on how many times a day to feed Patches with the measuring cup included and when to give what medication, which medication needs to be refrigerated and what to do if Patches will not take his medication( (he takes 8 pills a day) as he absolutely has to have it. We talk about what signs to look for if he is under stress and at what point it would be necessary to call us and perhaps the vet.
We leave directions and a phone number for the emergency 24 animal hospital in the event that he stops eating, will not take his medication and starts to vomit uncontrollably. This all puts a tremendous burden on our dog sitters. We use to board him in a kennel and later even at the emergency hospital until the last time years ago when he had an episode because he was so upset about us being gone that he crashed (all his organs stared to shut down) and he needed to be admitted into the hospital.
Now we are so grateful to our families for watching him because he seems to do very well in there care.
Anyways Yuki and Patches got along famously. I never knew that a dog could be so easy. She eats once a day, barely has to go out to do her business, and only barks if the door bell rings. The only thing that she really wants to do all day is play fetch. She will bring you the toy, drop it in your lap and very patiently wait for you to throw it. She was very calm and really didn't bother much with Patches at all which suited him just fine.
I was up in Elliot Lake this week and the friend that I was staying with is a pet sitter. She was free most of the day except for a few hours feeding rabbits, dogs, cats, and birds. However over night she stayed in some of the pets homes. There was a wide varity of instructions. Some with nothing writen down others with, no exaggeration seven pages.
ReplyDeleteOne dog where she was over night was blind,deaf and diabetic. She had to give him shots several times a day.
If you are stuck for a sitter try and overnight sitter. Her fee in Elliot Lake is $25.00 a night.
Love You