Loose Dogs and Lost Mind

Today was one for the books!  Well, quite literally since I am blogging about it.  It started off very strange with some odd personal things that happened while out with a certain someone.  I will not say who or what, but I will say that certain events were VERY out of the ordinary.    

The first dog that I went to walk was a semi regular newish client. The dog is a total sweetie pie, but recently the owner and I had been texting about his behavior at daycare.  It seems that he was so high energy that he was getting aggressive with other dogs when they had had enough and he still wanted to play.  I hadn't seen him since this incident and didn't think anything of it. 

It was business as usual.  I got big hugs and smiles from his velvety face and we headed over to the park.  He did his business pretty quickly and then we just kept going around the grassy areas.  He met some construction guys, other dogs, squirrels, and then found the sticks.  He got SUPER excited with the sticks! There were zoomies and tossing of said sticks, and then he started to bite my ankles and my legs.  At first it was a small nip, and then he started chomping!  I thought he broke skin (he didn't) but I do have quite a bruised lump on my ankle.  I got him to stop and we kept on going.  We ran into a corgi who wanted to say hello so they played while on the leash for a bit.  Then he jerked and grabbed the plastic part of his retractable leash and took off with the leash in his mouth! He is big on me chasing him in his apartment, so I knew that he just thought this was a game.  No matter what I did, he would not listen or come to me.  It literally got to the point where I threw my bag down and starting chasing him.  I had the guy with the corgi, a walker with a pug, a lady with 2 shih tzus, and a lady with a min pin all helping me try to get him back.  My stomach was in my throat, thank God he stayed within the park.  It took about 15 minutes for all of us to get him to stand still for a minute.  I am so grateful for the help of these people, you have no idea!

When we FINALLY got him back, I stood and chatted with the other walker that was there for a little bit.  He started jumping up and biting me again!  I got frustrated and took him back in.  Poor thing had no idea he did anything wrong.  His problem seems to be that he has a trigger that overstimulates him in the blink of an eye and he doesn't know what to do with all of his energy!  It ends up in him getting aggressive.  He doesn't bark or growl or act angry at all - I was not in fear for my limbs being ripped off, but he does get very bitey.  He thinks it's a game.  We are all going to work with a trainer next week and try to get this kid on track, but this was not the way I wanted to start my list of dog walks.  He must earn my trust back.

Face of an angel - teeth of a beaver :)

He is my buddy, and I do love him - we just have work to do

#Thesecatsaredogs

Half of the cat owners out there will say, "My cat is JUST like a dog!"  or  "He so thinks he's a dog!"   I have been guilty of saying that some of my cats are dog like, but these 2 cats that I watch are literally exhibiting K9 behavior.

The first time I met this client, she told me that she had clicker trained the cats to perform tricks.  I had to see this.  She clicker trained them (which is normally a dog thing) to come, sit, stand, and hit a particular point. She explained that she was really a dog person that ended up with cats.

One of the cats has a heart murmur and is on medication.  When he first started, he took his pill in a ball of crumbled goat cheese.  Makes sense, right? A cat, cheese...  an enjoyable treat.  After a while, she left me a note saying that he takes his pills in peanut butter.  This is notoriously a dog thing.  You put anything in peanut butter and a dog will eat it.  I have never seen a cat go nuts for peanut butter like this!!!  He adores it, runs to the fridge when I go to take the jar out, and paws at me until he gets his pill.

As if this wasn't enough, this past stint of sitting, these cats learned how to open the upper cabinet in the kitchen.

They took out 2 peanut granola bars, ate 1 whole bar and half of another.  They seem to have promptly vomited up the bar as well, but they tried this on a daily basis.  I had to put the granola bars in the fridge and hope that they didn't figure out how to open that door!

Moral of the story:  If your cat loves peanut butter and tries to steal granola bars, you are worthy of saying that your cat is just like a dog.

Snow-cone

There is a dog that I walk on occasion, mainly as a fill in when her normal walker can't come.  She is a pittie who is as sweet as can be to some people, but hates others.  She is perfect with me and her main walker, but with new folks she can be wary.

She has a long list of "dislikes" including:

Most other dogs

Men with long hair

Men with long hair that smell like cigarettes

Mailmen

The homeless

Most black people (yes, dogs can be racist too)

The elderly, especially if they have a cane or a walker and they are headed to physical therapy

Bikes/skateboards/shopping carts (basically anything loud and on wheels)

She does love the ladies though!  She has met female clients of mine on the street and she does her body wag and leans and kisses.  She is wonderful, just a little quirky :) Recently she had a foot injury and her left front foot has to be wrapped up.  This is the first time I have seen her since this happened, and I came into the house to see this.

A giant e-collar, a wrapped foot, and a sad pout.  Because of all the snow and ice, her foot needs to be EXTRA wrapped for walks.  It must remain dry at all times.  Picture this.  I'm sitting on the floor trying to put a rubber glove, a dog shoe, and a plastic IV bag on her foot, all while reaching around the e-collar with her licking my face the whole time.  It took longer than expected. :)

We went out for a walk and she just wanted to eat snow!  Silly

Snow-cone

While we were out, we encountered 2 of her pet peeves at the exact same time!  The mailman and a dog that ran out of his house.  They were on either side of us and she went a little nutty!  Of course in the midst of slush, the foot, etc... Ugh...

Horsecow

I am obsessed with me new Great Dane clients.  They are truly amazing. Truly truly truly amazing. (had to throw that in)  They are male and female and they love to hug!

They like to sit on the couch (and my lap)

Yes, they sit on the couch like people and I'm obsessed with that!  They listen so well, I just can't say enough .  I have known quite a few great danes in my years at the vet and they have all been a little unpredictable. They have certainly had their sweet moments, but I have never seen 2 like these.  Good breeding?  Good parenting? Both?  The only downside (and it's not really down) is that Leroy (the black and white boy) doesn't know how to handle his big body and long legs so when he jumps up to hug you, he usually ends up punching you in the face on his first try.  LExi the girl has learned to climb up your torso to give hugs.  She is a princess and not nearly as "flailing" as her rough and tumble brother.

Asshole Neighbors

I'm cat sitting for a client/friend that lives around the corner from me.  I went over to do my cat stuff tonight, and come in to a note on the door from her upstairs neighbor. This is what it said:

"Please clean cat up. Hall way smells terrible. tx    I sent (insert clients name) a note to update as well "

I didn't smell a thing when I came in the front door.  Just the normal hallway smell.
So I'm thinking the litterbox is crazy full - that they had some massive pooping party earlier...  I run over to the litterbox and I find a normal amount of dirtiness for 24 hours

So I think, wow, this guy is an ass.  I clean, I feed, I pet, and I leave.  He comes chasing me out, yelling down the street, "Hey! Are you watching the cats???"  I said yes, and he goes, "What was that smell??!"  I told him that I didn't smell anything at all and that I am cleaning the boxes every day.  He then asks if the litter was still inside, and I said yes, but bagged up.  He said, "Well can you take it outside?"  Um... no? I already locked everything up and have been working for 12 hours.  I have watched these cats dozens of times, I did nothing differently this time.  I told him that tomorrow was trash day, I was planning on taking it out then and that I was not opening up her back door (nor do I ever) because I don't want the cats to try to run out.  He looked disappointed, and wanted to make sure I did it tomorrow.  I will leave this my saying that this man has a dog, a baby, and a toddler.  He can't deal with waiting a day for me to take the dirty bag of litter out??
And such a shithead, passive aggressive note!

Pug Puppy!

Before Christmas, I had a new client meeting.  I was told it was for 2 cats, but when I got there, there was a tiny pug that greeted me at the door!  He was going with his parents :(  Boo, he was such a sweetie.  Don't get me wrong, I love the cats  

Obviously

But there are few things cuter than a pug puppy.  I got a last minute request to let him out this week and of course I went!  When I got there, I couldn't find him.  I knew he was crated, but I didn't see the crate and had no idea where he was.  He wasn't making a peep as I scoured the apartment for nearly 10 min.  Finally I looked down and saw this.

Found him!! But you see how a sleeping puppy in a covered crate could be overlooked.  This kid is nothing but kisses and fun.  We had a ball that afternoon!

Rain, Sleet, Snow, and Antibiotics

This day did not turn out as expected!  First of all, the weather was a surprise.  We were out in rain, sleet, and snow!  When we finished round 1, the sun came out.  All we could do was shake our heads...

We went to the house of cats and birds which is always an adventure.  The lovebird perches by the door - one of the cats tries to get it through the glass by hanging midway up the door - the bird mockingly chirps knowing she is safe.  Good times for all.

In the midst of this happening, out attention turns to the very old and skinny cat walking around.  She is crated because she is frail and must eat a different food than her brothers.  Terry noticed that when she walked, her one right front foot was splayed a bit.  I picked her up to take a look at it.  Her pads were caked with litter, so I peeled away at it only to find that her main pad had almost disintegrated and there was a major infection in 2 places.  The same was going on with her other front paw.  I soaked them in warm water and antibacterial soap and dried them thoroughly.  I applied neosporin topically, but then called the owner to let her know what was going on.  This cat needed antibiotics immediately and the owner ok'd me giving her an injection.  I called the vet who gave the ok for me to pick up an antibiotic injection for this old lady :(  With her age and lack of body mass, this infection could have potentially killed her.  We left the apartment, walked 2 dogs, picked up the shot, went back to the apartment, and I gave the shot and we are now hoping for the best.  Poor little kitty face ;(

Frozen Tundra

This winter has proved to be challenging to say the least.  First thing this morning I had a new client meeting.  I walk out of my house and it is literally a sheet of ice.  I slid down the sidewalk (slowly) and tried to make my way over to this new house.  It is only a few blocks away, however I nearly fell a good handful of times and it took me twice as long.  The concrete sidewalks were slippery enough, but the brick was not even manageable. What was in front of their house? Brick.  I had to grab on to their iron door and pull myself up to be able to ring the doorbell.

My next stop was a house in a courtyard.  What is in front of the courtyard ? Brick! Awesome.  It was there that I ran into a man in his late 60's/early 70's who was attempting to get the trashcans back into the courtyard.  The 2 of us were trying to gracefully skate our way to safety.  He told me, "Grab on to the trashcan!  I'll pull ya!"   I did indeed grab on and then started sliding towards the street.  Neither of us could get back to the gate.  When I finally made it into that house, I had to call Mike to come and rescue me.  There was no way that I would make it on foot.  Even with him driving, I had to tackle more brick, outside steps, and slipping all over the place.  I am completely fine with the winter, I love the cold.  The ice though... that damn ice....

Humping dogs and lizards

Fun overnight situation !  A little munchkin of a dog who is a total sweetie (plus likes to hump legs), plus a gerbil and a bearded dragon!  I love the involvement of rodents and reptiles - definitely don't get enough of them.  The pup loves to cuddle and actually let me sleep till 7:30 this morning! (Yay!)  Although I do love their company, I miss my house!  This holiday season has been so busy I have barely been home :/

Flood!!

What seems like a simple cat job......is a crazy flooding nightmare!
There are 2 awesome cats that I am watching

Sweet cat kids, food/meds/litter - easy enough.  I was told to watch for flooding in the basement.  It rained, it threw towels down, ta da.  But then, Terry and I heard dripping water.  It was the sound of water dripping into water.  We followed it and found the culprit. The washing machine was dripping water into the basin even though the valves were shut off.  It was almost overflowing.  Awesome.  There is no drain or utility sink, so I had to bring buckets of water up to the kitchen to lower the water level enough to put the washer on the spin cycle so that it would drain.  The next visit it filled up again.  I kept going back to check, it kept filling up.  The client is unreachable by phone, but I sent an email and left a voicemail. Rather than flooding her house, I had a plumber come over on Monday to take a look at it.  He fixed it for now (hero!) but the whole situation was a pain.  I am not only pet sitting, I am house sitting.  If it were me, I would want it fixed, so that was what I did.  It pays to have many contacts in your arsenal :)

Pepper

I am in love with a cat.  It is a new client - and this cat is such a love bug I can't handle it.  She is so pliable and sweet and purry.... plus she is a Rex, which makes her even more amazing!  Got lots of love today, which I needed :)

Christmas

Christmas Eve day!!!  Whoa!  Who knew what a crazy day it would be??
Terry and I started rounds at 7:30 am - our Round 1 was 19 visits.  Things were going pretty smooth... until we got to an apartment and I couldn't find the key on my gigantic key ring!  I had the key yesterday, and it just disappeared.  The only one out of 30+ keys!  Luckily the client lives over a corner store and they are his landlords, so I run in there to see if they have a spare.  They don't, but they said they would get in touch with the landlord.  I gave them my card and told them to call me.  We re-traced out steps and then went back to my house to double check that it wasn't here.  While at home sitting amongst a pile of keys (feverishly looking for this one specific set), my phone rings with a new client asking me to start tomorrow to watch a cat.  He told he that I am already watching a cat in his building.  (Convenient!) I ask what his address and he says 423, but in my crazed brain I hear 403 which is the building that I need to get into.  What a coincidence!  So I ask him if he can get a hold of the landlord, he does and calls me back.  Says the landlord will call me.  I told him that I would meet him once I got this key fiasco over with.

Phone rings again - another new client.  The girlfriend is in California and the boyfriend was leaving in 2 hours to go to Virginia.  Their dog sitter was M.I.A.  I said that I would go to meet him after the key fiasco, and then the other new client meeting.  I hang up with him, and the corner store calls!  They tell me that they have keys for me. YAY!  We rush over there, and they cut keys in the back of the store for me! Who knew?? $4, worth every penny.  We go upstairs to feed the cats while breathing many sighs of relief and feed those kids.

This was the enthused look I got after running upstairs!


So at this point, I am still thinking that the new client is in this same building.  I call him and he says he will come to the door.  I don't see or hear him.  It then dawns on me that I am over tired and stressed and he is in a completely different building.  F*&^(&!!!    So we head on over there, meet him and his cat, etc.  All goes well.  We then rush to meet the new dogs so that this guy can make his train to Virginia.  Sweet, amazing dogs - love them!  I have last minute clients, but never 2 last minute clients on the same day that they are leaving on a major holiday, plus a key loss!  In the 12 years that I have been pet sitting, this is the 3rd time I have lost a key.  Still have no idea how or where the others went.  I'd say that is pretty decent.

After 19 visits, I came home to lay down, entered a deep sleep for 2 hours and then had to wake up to begin round 2.  Oh holidays.... I want to rip my hair out :)

The downside of owning your own business.  Utility Companies.  PECO has been trying to come to my house to change out my meter for months.  Well, I don't have 5 hours to spare EVER, so I have been avoiding them.  They call, they leave stuff on my door, they send letters, and I literally couldn't be here to wait for them.  Well, then they decided to royally screw me and send me a letter stating that they will shut off my service on December 20th if I don't have them come in to change the meter.  AWESOME!  Way to treat your customers who pay their bills on time every month for the past decade.  So, I had to give in and set up an appointment.  They said that they would be here today between 7am and 12pm.  I am having to get Terry to cover morning walks, and possibly lunch walks...  I cannot sit here and do nothing!!  I'm losing money, I'm restless, and I need to get out of this house to do my job!  With my schedule, 5 hours at any time just doesn't work.  So I wait.... and wait.....
Hopefully the litterbox smell in the basement will get the Peco guy to hurry up and leave when he gets here.

It's already been a snowy and icy winter, and it's only mid December!  These dogs are not having it, especially with the sleet.
Fluffy, fast falling snow:  Good
Thick cold sleet/slush : Bad

These dogs want to just stay in their sweaters and curl up on the couch.  Except for Bailey.
Here is some of this years winter wear

Why don't people listen??  I am a considerate person who likes to put out a warning, yet people are idiots!  I will explain.  On Friday I went to walk Cali, a very quirky big dog.  She and I are best buddies, I get kisses galore.  She does not like everyone, or every situation.
Actually, her list of dislikes include:
Skateboards
Walkers/Canes
Homeless people
Some black people
Men with long hair (especially those who smell of cigarettes)
Other Dogs
Shady People on the street

When I arrived at her house, there was a man fixing the lock on the courtyard gate.  I told him that I would be bringing a dog through and would probably need him  to move.  He just nodded and ignored me.  I went in to get the pup and we head through the courtyard to the gate.  I get about 10-15 ft away and yelled to him that I have her and asked if he would  mind walking out of the gate until we pass.  The conversation went something like this:

Me:  Hello!  I have the dog, would you mind walking out of the gate so that we can pass?  She isn't so great with strangers?

Fix It Guy:  Oh she's fine!

Me: No, really, she isn't good with new people.  I don't trust her.

Fix it Guy: She's fine!  I'm part dog!  Don't worry, look!  She is wagging her tail!

Me:  Yes, I see that, but really... I don't fully trust her.  She doesn't know you and can be weird with men.

Fix It Guy:  Just come through, it'll be fine!  (as he gets on the inside of the gate and rolls himself back into a bush, basically he looks as if he is in a jail cell )

So I say, ok, and start to walk towards him.  Cali proceeds to bark, growl, and lunge at him.  He gets all up in arms saying, "Whoa!  You weren't kidding! You got her?!"

Of course I have her!!!  I told you to move!!! I told you that I didn't trust her!!  Then he starts asking if she is like this is with me.  Of course not!  That's why I am one of her walkers!  UGh!  The stupidity!  Moral of the story is, if someone tells you to move out of the way of their dog - DO IT!

Innocent face :)  Love this girl

Loving her kong