Category: Animals

I’m dog-sitting for the folks this weekend, so had a quiet night in yesterday evening. Until Poppy started barking incessantly for no apparent reason around midnight. They’re smart enough – I swear they can tell the time.

Before she left my mum told me, “Feed them around four o’clock.” No worries. At five past four, they’d emerged from wherever they were playing and were in my room, trying to jump on my lap. That’s pretty good timekeeping.

Think that’s coincidence? At 8pm – when my parents normally retire to the front room to veg in front of the telly, the dogs again became active. Scratching at the door of the lounge to get in. Clever pups.

This morning I took them for a walk, which was a challenge. They’ve got a kind of “combi-leash” – one auto-retracting handgrip which feeds down to a ring to which each dog then has their own bit of lead. It looks great and efficient, but it’s… entertaining getting them to walk properly.

Taffy always walks against the wall if you have him on his own leash – he’s male and wants to mark his territory. He’s also the “tugger”, wanting to walk you. He’s not bad at it either, given his size (they’re Schitzus, in case you didn’t know). The thing is, Poppy seems to insist on walking on his right if they’re leashed together. As we were walking on the right hand side of the road, this meant she was between him and the wall. Something Taffy didn’t realy pay much attention to each time he lifted his leg.

Ew.

Mind, she gets her revenge. Tripods are sturdy and balanced as their legs are spaced evenly around the radius of the base. However, a rectangular table with a leg missing can tip quite easily. Much like a dog on three legs when its attached friend pulls on the lead.

As for keeping one of them still while the other squats for a number two… You try emptying your bowels while someone yanks on a chain around your neck.

While we’re on that subject, I think I’ll suggest to my mother to get thicker plastic bags for picking up the poop. It’s icky enough to do, but when you can feel how warm it is through the thin layer of polycarbons… Urgh.