Dog sitting

Two almost-episodes of this arose during the past week.

The first:

I noticed, on the Student Spouse FB group, that one of the wives was looking for a puppy-sitter (just for an overnight).  Tunia is notoriously ill-behaved with older dogs, but tends to do well with puppies (I think because they tend to submit to her push dominance more readily).  I LOVE dogs, as do the girls, so I thought it would be fun to borrow one for an overnight.  We arranged for the potential playmates to meet (at our house/on Petunia's territory...not a well thought-out location) and Petunia was a neurotic barking mess before they even rang the door bell.  The 7-month-old pup, a border collie, with probably about 5 pounds on Petunia, did not submit.

It was actually a very embarrassing situation for me, as this was also my first meeting with this particular spouse--and she had to be wondering what I was thinking in thinking, even for a second, that crazy old Petunia might get along with another dog!  In Petunia's defense, I think due to the unprecedented high volume of both pets and young children in this particular base housing locale (I think largely d/t the relatively young age of all pilot students--everyone either has young children and/or pets), she has been unusually on edge since moving here.

The second:

I am road-tripping with the girls to Louisiana tomorrow, after attending their parent-teacher conferences and taking care of a few last-minute errands.  My sister-in-law and her boyfriend live there, and they are both very present in the girls' lives, although we have yet to visit them on their own turf.  The girls (especially my oldest) are also insanely huge Princess and the Frog fans, so it is going to be great to visit some scenes straight out of the movie, as well!!  The trip is 12h each way, and I am hoping to leave tomorrow afternoon, arrive Friday afternoon, and split the return trip over Sunday/Monday.

My initial instinct was that I would need to arrange for someone to come to the house to walk the dog at least 3 times/day.  Matt quickly agreed.  It's not that his schedule is so crazy that he doesn't have time to walk her (although that may soon be the case, when he enters Phase 2--the flightline, in about 2 weeks), he just severely lacks interest...particularly as we do not have a yard enclosure to just release her into.  Although we were SURE we'd be putting up a [chain link, the only kind permitted in our side of town] fence when we moved in, the free lawncare for unfenced yards was way too good to pass up and the combination of great paths and general safety makes it incredibly easy and fun to walk Petunia as much as she needs it.

Two nights ago, I was double-checking with Matt about hiring some neighborhood kids to help out with the dog, and much to my surprised, he impressed me by saying he would be happy to take care of her (and our low/no-maintenance hedgehog, Kumi).  I'm not sure if he is just really appreciative of her company in what will be an otherwise-quiet house, or if the idea of kids coming in to walk his pet while he is passed out in the recliner or playing Xbox would simply be too embarrassing, but either way, I am thrilled he is up for the challenge!  And, despite his statements to the contrary, I know he has a huge soft spot for our little dog.  :o)