bella's here

We are once again dog sitting for our friends. The lovely Bella (a gorgeous and sweet natured Blue Tick Hound) is once again staying with us. This time, she'll be here for the entire month of February.

We looked after her for a couple of weeks in late November / early December. We'd never met Bella before that visit. We knew her owners' previous dog, Morgan, quite well (I'd known Morgan since she was a puppy) but Bella was a stranger to us. When she arrived in November, she was pretty nervous and it took her almost the first week to really chill into being here. It had to be odd, new people, a completely different place, city noise versus country quiet. I wasn't surprised.

Tonight though, she whimpered a tiny bit after Jamie dropped her off but it was really not long at all. Right now, she's sleeping in her basket. I placed it next to the furnace vent so she's toasty roasty warm. The house she lives in is a lovely log cabin on a remote lake north of here. They heat the house by wood stove so there are no blasting forced air hot spots to snuggle on. Her owners have gone to the Caribbean for a holiday. I guess she's sort of on one too, I joked with her owners that she's getting to spend a month in the warmth as well.

I'm so glad that she's here again, we really missed her.

adventures in dog sitting

Here's a little tip: If you need to open your front door, and you are dog sitting, make sure that you have some shoes on.

Yeah, that's right, the hound dog (did I mention she was a hound dog) got out on me today. I ran after her, in my socks. I guess she thought that this was pretty funny, a fun game I suppose, because she'd stop, wait for me to catch up to her and take off.

As I chased her, a million things went through my head, like, telling her owner, one of my oldest friends, that I lost her beloved dog. I thought about how she was a country dog, visiting us in the city and didn't know the neighbourhood. I thought about how she just loved to follow her nose. I thought about how she did not have tags.

You have no idea how happy I was to see my gravel stealing neighbour on his lawn, smoking a cigarette. I asked him to grab her and he was able to get a hold of her collar. She was not thrilled by this and eventually I got her back into the house. I didn't even think about my feet until I was standing inside the house in sopping wet, muddy socks.

She scared the shit out of me and, I think, herself too. I hope so anyway. She's been very quiet since her "adventure" outside. This is not something I want to see a replay of anytime soon.

I'm not supposed to be on the sofa

I'm not supposed to be on the sofa
Originally uploaded by Julep67

We have been having fun dog sitting this week.

The dog we are sitting on, Bella, is a strange girl. We're not sure whether she is exhibiting her normal behaviour or is a - still adjusting to strange people in a strange house or b - missing her owners like crazy or c - is just a little odd.

For a while now, we've been talking about adopting a dog from the humane society. I think that looking after Bella for 2 weeks will be good for us.

If she can stand living with us for 2 weeks, there is a chance that some other dog might be able to, too. We'll see.