My friend just adopted a dog. It's a Mastiff, so like a horse that barks. She's a really sweet dog though. She's playful and loves to just sit there in the same room as you and let you do your thing. The problem is...She's just such a *BIG* dog!! She drools everywhere all the time. And she sheds constantly. My friend is a total neat freak too, and I worry at some point my friend will decide she just can't deal with that much dog and clean up. My friend was going out of town for the weekend and asked me to watch her dog. Of course I said yes. I mean, I try really very hard to be the kind of friend to others I would want them to be to me. So, if a friend needs me to stay at her place and watch her barking horse, then that's what I will do.
Anyways. I went to her house...and I slept on the couch downstairs. It was so hot! this weekend, and she had said I could sleep on the pullout upstairs but it was too hot to do that so I slept on her couches in the living room downstairs. Ummm, her couches look nice and they are okay to sit on for movies and such, but not so much fun to sleep on.
Then there was the fact that this dog woke me up every night at 1:30 because it "had to go outside." Seriously. She would not stop nudging my face until I got up, put my shoes on, got her leash, and took her outside. For those of you who know me, you know how irritated I become when my sleep is interrupted. I become grumpy. It's one of those faults you have, you acknowledge, and you live with because changing it just isn't worth the trouble.
This went on from Thursday night to Sunday night. There were times when I had to leave and go help my mom. So I'd leave the dog alone for a few hours and come back. When I got back, I'd feed her and give her fresh water. She would then gulp the water down, and keep drinking, and drinking, and drinking; then she'd look at me--and start swishing her head back and forth!! Flinging her spit-water all over the kitchen!! URGH! About halfway through the weekend I was so over it. I didn't want to sleep on a tough couch. I didn't want to follow this dog around the house wiping up spit. I really didn't want to twist my ankles anymore as she tried to chase down every dog which crossed our path on our walks.
On the last night, I had to drive to the airport and pick up my friend and her boyfriend. I was exhausted from poor sleep and working and dealing with the dog. I just wanted to go to sleep.
But then, as I helped unload their bags from my car, my friend turned to me. She looked and me and said "Thank you for taking care of my dog." And the whole weekend was worth it.
That's not to say I'm jumping up and volunteering for the next dog sitting job!!
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