Thursday, October 15, 2009

A day in the Life of a Poodle

For another week or so we will be pet-sitting a 16-year old poodle. We've been here two weeks. So far so good, I suppose. She's still alive! 

Let me back up a little. We have never had pets as long as we've been married. Nothing against those who do and nothing against the pets themselves. 

So, why did they choose us to watch their 16-year old oh did I fail to mention incontinent nearly deaf and blind poodle?

What they told us:
She sleeps all day.

What they failed to tell us:
She doesn't sleep all night.
{And if you don't take her out, sometime in the middle of the night she'll pee some where, some place, some time while we're sleeping. 2nd night happened to be on our bed. A couple of other nights on the floor conveniently on my side of the bed.}

What they told us:
She likes to sleep with them, but she will use her carrier.

What they failed to tell us:
Forget the carrier.
{She likes to snuggle as close to one's face as possible licking herself into la-la land. Ever smell the breath of a 16-year old dog? Her yawn alone covers a 6-ft. radius of odor.}

What they told us:
She doesn't eat much in the morning, so leave it out for an hour then put it away for evening.

What they failed to tell us:
She does eat much in the morning.
{She also like to take her chunks of slimy, wet food and scatter them on the kitchen floor casually dining at her leisure. Only took one second to learn that cold, slimy dog food is squishy between the toes.}

What they told us:
(Motioning in a general direction to the red bag on the counter.) She likes one snack at 9:00 pm.

What I failed to notice, and I take full responsibility for this one):
That red bag on the counter with the delicious-smelling brown sticks that we've been feeding her promptly at 9 every night is beef jerky. BEEF JERKY, PEOPLE! Made from 100% premium beef. No wonder it smelled so good! I've been sacrificing yummy, teriyaki beef jerky meant for us humans and giving it to a dog.
{Hmmm...in retrospect the salt content of the jerky would be why she was gulping tons of water before bed.}
 

I think I may have this dog stuff figured out.

All in all, it has been a fun time. She really is a good dog--bad breath and all--and we've become accustomed to her little rituals and routines. Grace loves animals and it's been fun watching her interact with the dog. This dog may even have managed to wiggle her way into our petless hearts. Who knows?


It's All Poodley Good!

Brenda

18 comments:

  1. Do I see a puppy in the future for the current "petless" family????

    I bet Grace would a Great Dane, or a Saint Bernard or maybe a nice, young black already house trained, great with kids Min Pin...
    Hint Hint

    Glad you are enjoying your time, doggie pee and jerky aside.
    We miss ya.

    Love ya

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  2. Awww I think its sweet that you are dog sitting....and especially an old blind one! LOL

    Love you
    Jess

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  3. I'm not much of an animal person either. Never had one...but my husband keeps hinting!

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  4. Oh Brenda, that is hilarious. I love your side-bar remarks, comments and add ons. Hilarious. I think they're simply giving you one reason after another to ditch any idea you ever HAD of owning a pet. What a good friend you are!

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  5. You are a better person than me! I don't think I could handle this one. :)

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  6. You always make me smile. I adore your sense of humor. Not being a big dog lover I can "experience" your post with you :o) Do you remember my post about "devil dog"?
    Susan

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  7. That's pretty funny. Yes, I think I see a pet in the future for you all.

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  8. I think you found a new calling! LOL Actually you are very patient person with a kind heart!

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  9. I have a feeling you are about to become a pet person. The sweet, lovely, and charming Grace is too adorable to be denied and I'm thinkin' she is going to want a puppy.

    :)

    Have a nice week!

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  10. I was really chuckling while reading this as I can so identify with much of it. When my mom passed away we inherited her fourteen year old who lived to almost seventeen. Not a lot of fun, but it's so nice of you to do this. Glad she's getting such good care.

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  11. LOL - I can SO relate to this little tale of the poodle. As the proud owner of two poodles now and 3 in my past, I can tell you that this is exactly how they are. My oldest (and most spoiled one) one is failing in eyesight, has a bad heart, and has little habits that would probably drive someone else nuts. We, too, give a treat after they come in at night (although, they are dog biscuits, not beef jerky, for heavens sake!) and my poodle would never sleep anywhere but our bed. She loves to lick, too. It's a poodle thing.

    Thank goodness we don't have the incontinence thing going on and for that I'm thankful. All my poodles have always taken a mouthful of hard food out of the bowl and then gone to a rug or carpet, spit it out, and eaten it one at a time. Again, it's a poodle thing. :)

    Glad you're looking at the bright side of all this. I can attest to the fact that poodles are the best and smartest little dogs and make wonderful family pets. I can't imagine my life without one.

    God bless you - Julie

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  12. This post struck a chord as we were "petless heart" people too, until 3 1/2 years ago. Now I'm a bleeding heart for all pets. We couldn't live without our little Jake!

    I'm glad you're enjoying your pet sitting. I never liked poodles until we got one. They are smart smart dogs!

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  13. SMILE! I think you are secretly loving all the poo and pee episodes myself....not really! Bet you'll be glad to come home to well house trained Myrtle, huh! We're missing you guys and Myrtle still looks longingly out the front door window waiting for his girl toy, Grace!

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  14. HOw funny.
    I once pet sat when I was a teenager. I watched an oooold cat, an ooooooolder dog and a grumpy horse who, when you fed him...would corner you in his stall and not let you leave unless you brought an apple. learned that after the first day and a quick call to fred and norma. The poor old dog was so blind I would find him sitting in random corners of the house, waiting to be let out. The cat never came out from under the couch (unless it came out at night...which is probable).
    Gotta love the animals.

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  15. We have never had pets, either. I love the idea of pets--especially dogs. I love dog stories and horse stories. It sounds like I never outgrew sixth grade. I did a little pet sitting--very little--one time. It helped me understand that I like the idea of pets but that is as far as it goes. Except for our bird feeder--outdoors--I really love that.

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  16. i have been seeing amber on the sly, i lost track of her and i guess you too brenda, never did lose reva cause we too are dying a lot more that you or amber...a dog makes my sorgern on this earth much more pleasnt....i have duke, sadie, sandy, speeding and the cat jaspher bell...have diabetis, heart problems and bad bad allergies, sinus, cronic cough, for a year but like reva, i smile a lot and have lots of girl and yes some boy friend bloggers tooooo

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  17. I can just picture this dog with all its quirks, incontinence and bad breath! The way you put it sounds so funny, I haven't laughed like this in quite some time. Sorry!

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  18. I still laugh when I remember how jealous you were of that dog and all the jerky she got to eat and you didn't. I think I would have tasted it myself if it smelled that good, dog food or not. ha.

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