Notes for Our Dog Sitter
We’re going camping this weekend and dragging J along with us. A good friend is coming to watch the dogs for us. Here are the notes I sent her. (Which make me realize just how spoiled my dogs can be.)
Water
There are three dog water bowls. One in the bathroom and two in our room. June will often decide that she can only drink out of one of the three, and I cannot tell you what prompts that decision. She will empty a bowl and then keep licking it/pawing it, even if there is another full water bowl right next to her. If you notice one getting empty and the others not being touched, please refill that bowl.
Food
The dogs get fed around 6pm each day. Check with J tonight to see if he has already fed them.
Their kibble is kept in the coat closet in the living room. There are three metal bowls scattered around our room (I think one is on the printer, the other two are at the foot of the bed). Grab any two. Each dog gets two scoops of kibble from the bin in the closet. In the kitchen there is a pump bottle of salmon oil. One squirt for each dog. There is also a round plastic container of cut up chicken and cold chicken fat in the fridge. A small handful of chicken goes in each dog bowl (10 pieces or less). Also about a half of a spoon of the cold chicken fat. Stir well.
They get fed in our room. Larry’s bowl goes in the corner created by our bed and the little dresser. Feed June at the foot of the bed.
Larry will not eat if a ton of stuff is going on, I often try to sit in the room with him while they eat. He also eats much slower than June. If he wanders away with only a little kibble left, just pick up the bowl (or he’ll try to defend the area from June later on) and put it on the printer. If he leaves a lot, pick it up, but try putting it down again a little before bedtime.
Outs
Their leashes should be in a pot on the baker’s rack next to the sliding glass door. The switch for the outside lights is hidden by the sack of plastic bags. The light has a motion detector on it, so don’t worry if it doesn’t come on the second you flip the switch. It will come on once the dogs are outside.
June needs to be taken out 15-45 minutes after eating dinner.
If it is raining hard, neither dog will want to go out. Larry will just hold it until he’s miserable and more jumpy than normal. June will decide to go in the hallway or living room.
Generally we find taking them out once in the morning (June will often poop twice on this out) before you head out for the day, once when you get home, after dinner, and then before bedtime works pretty well. If you aren’t heading out first thing in the morning, a second out before you leave is never a bad thing.
June will scratch at the sliding glass door (or the bedroom door if she’s closed in), but is not always persistent about it. Larry doesn’t really ask (he just holds it), other than maybe wandering over near the sliding glass door.
Sometimes June will poop and not piddle and try to come in the house. You can’t let that happen. If she needed to poop, she needs almost always needs to piddle. Gently kick her off the step, and tell her “go piddle”. Sometimes it takes a few attempts. If you’ve done it 5+ times, and she’s wandered a bit in the yard and not done anything, go ahead and let her back in.
Sometimes June would rather be chased than go out, and she’ll scamper behind the chair, trying to get you to come after her. If you have the energy to play, great. If not, grab a treat from the middle of the dining room table (we have salmon bites and sweet potato treats). That will bring both dogs running. Make sure to get the leash on them BEFORE you give them the treat, as June is likely to take it and try to hide under the table.
Larry is pretty gentle with treats, June can be a little too enthusiastic. Make her sit before she gets it.
While You’re Out
When you’re ready to leave, grab a hard treat from the box on the baker’s rack. Break it in half. The dogs know what this means and should go running back to our room. Make them sit and give them each half the bone (if it breaks unevenly, I give Larry the larger piece). Close them in our room.
Sleeping
They will generally settle better if they have access to our room. But some nights, one or both of them will just be obsessed with being at the window and barking. If that happens, grab one of the dog beds from our room (Larry seems to prefer sleeping in them to sleeping on our bed) and close them in J’s room with you.
Feel free to use treats to get them away from the window.
Walking
IF you wanted to take them on a walk (you do not need to), their harnesses generally float on top of the paperwork on the file cabinet right outside the kitchen. Blue harness is Larry’s. Red is June’s. They get very excited when they see the harnesses picked up. Larry will jump at it, but then run away from you when you try to put it on. You have to tell him to sit, often more than once (and he won’t really sit, but he’ll finally hold still). June will walk happily onto the love seat, either on the arm or the back of it, for you to put her harness on her.
General
When you’re just hanging out at the house, it’s for the best not to give the dogs free reign. If you’re back in one of the bedrooms watching TV or on the computer, close the dogs in with you. It will cut down on the random barking and June deciding it’s simply easier to piddle in the hallway or living room.