Contributed by Marilyn Bennett
Dog sitting is different from having a dog, as by the time the dog gets used to your idiosyncrasies and you reconcile yourself to hers; she is gone…
Such was the situation Mr. D and I found ourselves in when we took in a charming little Jack Russell terrier named Vida. My daughter dropped her off with her dog bed, comfy cage, lots of toys and tons of food.
I have always liked big, calm dogs that you took for long, invigorating walks, which were healthy for both of us. Then when we came home, they flopped happily on their rug while I rested in my easy chair. This little dog didn’t seem to understand that the house is a place to relax, to unwind from the tensions of this world. She wanted to play non-stop, in the house or outside.
She loved to fetch balls, but needed to learn that fetch is more fun when you give up the ball to be thrown. She seemed to prefer tug of war, which was not a game Mr. D and I wanted to indulge in. She arrived with several noisy “pig” toys that she proceeded to destroy to get at the noisemaker inside. It appeared she was determined to kill that squeaky toy. This toy also had fluffy innards that she spread throughout the house, and we had to gather them up before she ate some of it and became sick. On researching the Jack Russell, we found that they were bred to flush foxes and rodents out of burrows, but not kill them, leaving that for the hunters. Since we had no rodents in our house, this noisy “pig” was apparently the next best thing!
She had a curiosity about almost everything, which almost matched that of a cat. She was fascinated by the automatic dishwasher. When we loaded it with dirty dishes, she watched carefully and sniffed the residual smells on the plates. When we then turned it on, she really focused on the bottom where the noise was coming from as if there were a creature in there. After the dish cycle was done and we opened it up to take out the clean dishes, she appeared to be puzzled since the smell was gone. We surmised that the whole process confirmed her suspicion that there really was an animal inside the machine that ate those foods left on the plates!
We also had to be careful about filling her water bowl too full, as she would have a drink and then drop her ball in the bowl and proceed to splashing water. Since we use lots of bottled water, we soon discovered a noisy toy that she couldn’t destroy. Crush a gallon water container and it makes a loud crunching sound, which she seemed to enjoy. Also, she had a harder time keeping hold of the slippery surface, so it was easier to make her give up the new toy.
Attention and petting 24/7 was what it was all about, and then running around the house and giving us a clownish look so as to say, “Why aren’t you chasing me, throwing a ball for me or otherwise giving me your undivided attention?” If we tried ignoring her, she would jump on our feet with her ball or toy until we threw it just to get her to leave us alone for a few minutes.
Vida seemed to have doggie ADD and wanted to play non-stop. Click, click, click went her paws around and around our wood floors. This was even more noticeable when bedtime approached and everything was quiet.
Now I have had lots of dogs, but have never allowed a dog to come to bed with us; however, the constant click click began to drive us crazy. She walked back and forth around the bed until we decided that having the little bugger in bed with us seemed preferable to listening to the click, click, click of her paws all night long. At least she snuggled in and slept peacefully for the most part, but each morning at almost exactly at 6:30am, she was ready to start her day again and, of course, our day.
All in all, this adorable, ridiculous, irresistible little dog stayed with us four weeks and we enjoyed her very much. The experience did however, make us more than ever determined to get a big, calm dog should we decide to expand our household again. We don’t think we do well in the role of “comfort” humans for dogs!
