The pandemic has forced our dog walker to change her business model to make ends meet. In addition to walks, potty breaks, and trips to the dog park, she has added doggie day care and boarding to her services. At any given time, she might have between two and seven dogs at her house, including her own pair of mini-Aussies. She also is a SCUBA instructor and dive master, and occasionally her work in that field has her away for the weekend. Those times, she gets a friend or neighbor to look after whatever dogs she has, because she needs the money from both jobs.
Sometimes in the past year or so, when she has been in a bind, she has asked Heidi and me to stop by on a Saturday morning or afternoon and let the dogs out in her yard for some exercise and relief. I'm usually happy to help, although the dogs are often a little wild and anxious. As disconcerting as those circumstances can be to me, it bothers Heidi even more; she hates to see the dogs unhappy.
This weekend, it seems that all the other dog help fell through, and we were asked to let the dogs out a few times today and tomorrow, and feed them tonight. Making the job even harder was the fact that there were eleven (yes! ELEVEN) dogs staying at the house. We needed photos, descriptions, and feeding instructions to be able to care for them all.
We reluctantly agreed to help out, but today has been a very stressful day. Oh, Leo, Theo, Dory, Daisy, Brooklyn, Becket, Blue, Grady, Laika, Isla, and Harper are perfectly nice, but the guest dogs are away from their homes and families and their anxiety at being in an unfamiliar place ramps up with their excitement whenever we arrive. It's chaos, and as much as we want to be helpful and supportive, this situation doesn't fell right for us or the dogs.
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