Dog-Sitting

For 5 weeks, we are dog-sitting for Felicity & Karthik as they travel to India. We are one week in and we've learned a few things about these big (compared to Cooper) doggies. Sam is a standard Schnauzer and Henna is a beagle.

1) These puppies are not very independent. They like to always be at our heels, following us around the house, every step we take. Cooper is not this way at all, so we are not used to having to watch out for running into or stepping on doggies. So when we accidentally step on Henna or Sam because they follow us around, do we feel bad about it? We'll get back to you on that one...

2) These puppies are smelly. Granted, we haven't given them a bath yet in the week they've been here but they do have one scheduled for tomorrow. We only usually have to bathe Cooper every month, if that, because he has so little fur, and so little body mass, that he never really smells like a dog. But these doggies retain that smell. We like to spray them with Febreeze to help the situation. They don't so much like being sprayed with Febreeze.

3) Henna has a very sensitive stomach. She cannot be fed "people food" so this means Sam and especially Cooper have to suffer and eat dog food 100% of the time. When Felicity and Karthik brought the dogs, we fed Henna some sugar cookie and the next morning she got sick. So we were forewarned. But the other night while Phil was eating soup, he figured giving the puppies a few stewed carrots couldn't hurt anything (Cooper loves them and eats them all the time). Well we found out the next evening that hadn't been such a good idea when she got sick. So now we know we can't test the theory on her anymore.

4) Henna and Sam love pecans. They like to go outside, and especially Sam can stay out there for hours on end cracking the pecans in our yard and eating them. Cooper likes them too, but prefers when we crack/shell them for him.

5) The first night they were with us after F&K had left, we tried to let them sleep on their doggy bed on the floor in our bedroom. We figured they'd want a little freedom and prefer not to sleep in their crate, but knew we would not allow them to sleep in our bed. By midnight, when they had not laid down yet, after pacing back and forth in the house, with toenails clicking on our wood floors with every step they took, we got frustrated and led them into their crate. Immediately they went inside and laid down, and went right to sleep. I still think it's weird that they'd rather stay inside there than have freedom.

6) Henna loves the heating pad. We try to remind her that her mommy did not bring the heating pad for her and it belongs to Cooper, but she doesn't seem to care. Actually, she is kind of a bully and pushes Cooper off of it at every opportunity. And Cooper lets her.

7) BIG POOP! In our backyard. Cooper never poops back there. These dogs do, and very often. By the amount we picked up today, you'd think they'd been here the full 5 weeks. But nope, just one.

I am sure there will be more discoveries as the weeks progress, so I'll stop here for now. Either way, we love having them here as they truly are great company and wonderful at showing their love!! They make great cuddling partners in the cold weather!!

Here are a few photos of the puppies for the enjoyment of F&K who miss them like crazy. They are doing really well and have not damaged any of our electronics yet!