Thank You Card #6
The dogs know now that any time Tom or I drag our red suitcase from the garage into the house that something’s going on. To be fair, they probably have some indication that something’s going on when we start cleaning like crazy in the day or two prior to the suitcase’s appearance, but it definitely confirms their suspicions. They used to see the suitcase and look at us accusingly, like, “Oh you’re going somewhere without us, are you?” (or at least that’s what my guilt led me to imagine). These days, the suitcase is still a harbinger that Mom and Dad are going away for a little bit, but now it’s a cause for celebration, because it also means their Auntie Stacey is going to visit. Look how happy Mishka is!
When we only had Mishka, we were always able to rely on our friends and our neighbor to take care of him while we were gone. Mishka’s an easy-going dog and all our friends love him. It was never a problem getting someone to go over our place and walk him, or throw a ball around, or watch a movie and share tri-tip steak with him (Uncle Haaris!). Things got a little more complicated when we adopted Yuuki because whereas Mishka is happy being the lone wolf, Yuuki constantly wants to be near people and demands attention. (She likes having people around so she can tell them what to do. Little Big Dog Syndrome.) She also has a more of a routine than Mishka does. Look, here she is after I woke her up early from a nap. Clearly, she’s thinking “There’d better be a damn good reason I was awoken prematurely from my beauty sleep, as well as some compensatory premium rawhide treats for this disturbance…”
So yeah, Yuuki is used to living The Life, and our travel threatened her lifestyle. We realized that that the system of care that worked so well for Mishka wouldn’t work for Yuuki, and decided to hire a dog sitter next time we went away so we could count on the same person visiting the dogs at certain times and for a certain total amount of time each day.
It was some dumb luck—or serendipity—that when we were planning our honeymoon last summer, Auntie Stacey (back then she was known as “this girl Stacey, who maybe can dog sit?”) was just moving from Boston, where her family had a black lab, to Santa Barbara, where her landlords (and everyone else’s, it seems) wouldn’t allow dogs. She’d posted on Craig’s List as someone who could provide excellent dog sitting (which is the kind we wanted) for “almost free” (which is the kind we could afford). To be honest, she sounded too good to be true. Initially I worried that maybe she’d be just some crazy person who was going to steal all our stuff (by which I mean our flat screen HDTV, the only somewhat expensive thing we own), or that by “almost free” she really meant $50/day (which is still less than some dogsitters charge).
But every once in a while, the things you think are too good to be true are actually even better than you imagined. Stacey came over to meet the dogs and get the grand tour of our apartment (all 350 square feet of it), and the dogs immediately loved her. The first time she dogsat, she watched them for almost three weeks, during which time she’d give us updates on how they were doing, what activities she did with them, and little characteristics she noticed about them (like how they each greet you differently — Mishka by barking and spinning in circles, Yuuki by standing on her hind legs and scratching at you until you pick her up). Sometimes she sent pictures, too!
Here’s one of Yuuki in the car on her way to go shopping. And though you can’t really tell from that picture, Yuuki loves car rides. Here’s actual proof of that:
Auntie Stacey also made a journal of sorts of all their daily activities, which was an awesome surprise when we got home.
She’s watched them four or five times since then (we’ve traveled a lot lately), and it’s always a huge relief to know that our dogs are being cared for by someone who treats them like they were her own dogs. In fact, whether or not she’s free to dogsit is a major consideration when we make travel plans—I can’t imagine anyone else watching them now. And it’s funny, because though Thank You Card #6 went to Auntie Stacey for being the Best Dogsitter on the Planet, she often thanks us for letting her spend time with The Best Dogs on the Planet—so I guess everyone wins!
* This post also functions as an endorsement. If you’re a pet-owner in the Santa Barbara area and have been searching for a great pet-sitter, please leave a comment or e-mail me and I’ll forward you her contact information.
