I have a lot of stories about Luna. She was one of my favorite dogs, her mom was really nice, and she walked really well. She had been a street dog in Honduras but her mom fell in love when she was there (I think for the Peace Corps) and took her home. She was a little busted up, had been hit by a car and her leg wasn't set properly, a good sized hole in one of her ears, but was generally good natured and sweet. She loved all people but she could do without dogs when she was on leash. There will be many more Luna stories to come but this one stands out.
My Dog Walker, Mark, had been working for me for a while by this point. He knew Luna pretty well and enjoyed her walks as much as everyone else did. One day, he texted me a story that I'm unlikely to forget. As I said, Luna was a street dog. Because of this, she wanted to eat EVERYTHING. She preferred any kind of food (even rotten) but there were many things I pulled out of her mouth in her time with me. Fortunately, I never had this particular pleasure. Mark said he noticed her sniffing and called her. She was normally very good but didn't look up. He tugged on the leash and she grabbed something and ran to bring it to him. He couldn't quite see what it was but could see it wasn't something she should be eating. He grabbed for it but she pulled away. When she turned her head he could see that it was... a cat's leg. This kitty had obviously been dead for quite some time, now we really didn't want her to eat it. He went for it again but she whipped away, and swallowed it. Gross. Mark moved quickly away from the bush where she had found her prize and texted me. I told mom to keep an eye on her for any unfortunate side effects. I'll give it to mom, she took it in stride and responded with something like, "Oh Luna". The rest of the walk passed without incident, fortunately. Mark and I chatted about it later and both agreed that it was way better that he was walking Luna that day, and not his girlfriend Jess, who also walked for me. We both would have heard about that for months!
Tuesday, December 8, 2015
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Who Let The Dogs Out?
When your company cares for 100 dogs or more a week, there's bound to be some craziness. We are very careful with locking doors, checking gates, and following client instructions but just like anything else, there are a lot of things that can go wrong at any given time, and sometimes, they do. Here is one such story.
Ryan was my first Dog Walker. We had known each other forever and he wasn't getting enough hours at his job at a dog daycare. He reached out and asked if I was hiring. Trying not to sound too desperate, I said yes. I hadn't had a day off in months. The idea of not having a walk for an entire day was almost too tempting to even think about. It worked out well and he worked for me for two years. After over a year, he was staying at a client's house. The client had three dogs, plus her daughter's dog was there. I got a frantic call from mom a couple days into the trip saying that a neighbor had called and all four of her dogs were out. Ryan was done with walks and headed back already and I decided to go out too to help catch them. Nikki (my GM) was with me and we jumped in my car and drove out. The house was far and rush hour was starting so it took us 45 minutes to get there. In that time I called another client who lived a block away and asked if she would be able to help look. She said she had the flu but gamely got into her car and drove around looking for them (have I mentioned how much I love my clients?). She saw them a couple times and relayed their positions, which Nikki then relayed to Ryan, who changed his direction. By the time we showed up Ryan was getting the last dog in the house. He was huffing and puffing but also smiling. That could have been terrible.
The question still remains though, who did let the dogs out? Ryan wasn't home when they busted out, he hadn't touched the gate at all. Mom insisted the gate was secure and he must have let them out or left something open somewhere. Determined to get to the bottom of this, most obviously because we didn't want it to happen again, we went to the gate and investigated. We discovered that the gate had been pushed hard enough that it had popped open. We suspect that a cat or neighbor's dog was on the other side and the dogs were barking and jumping on the gate (something they didn't normally do). With the weight of 4 dogs and that much activity, the gate couldn't hold up. We fixed it up so that it would hold and I took pictures to send to mom. In the end, the dogs were all safe, and the dogs let the dogs out.
Ryan was my first Dog Walker. We had known each other forever and he wasn't getting enough hours at his job at a dog daycare. He reached out and asked if I was hiring. Trying not to sound too desperate, I said yes. I hadn't had a day off in months. The idea of not having a walk for an entire day was almost too tempting to even think about. It worked out well and he worked for me for two years. After over a year, he was staying at a client's house. The client had three dogs, plus her daughter's dog was there. I got a frantic call from mom a couple days into the trip saying that a neighbor had called and all four of her dogs were out. Ryan was done with walks and headed back already and I decided to go out too to help catch them. Nikki (my GM) was with me and we jumped in my car and drove out. The house was far and rush hour was starting so it took us 45 minutes to get there. In that time I called another client who lived a block away and asked if she would be able to help look. She said she had the flu but gamely got into her car and drove around looking for them (have I mentioned how much I love my clients?). She saw them a couple times and relayed their positions, which Nikki then relayed to Ryan, who changed his direction. By the time we showed up Ryan was getting the last dog in the house. He was huffing and puffing but also smiling. That could have been terrible.
The question still remains though, who did let the dogs out? Ryan wasn't home when they busted out, he hadn't touched the gate at all. Mom insisted the gate was secure and he must have let them out or left something open somewhere. Determined to get to the bottom of this, most obviously because we didn't want it to happen again, we went to the gate and investigated. We discovered that the gate had been pushed hard enough that it had popped open. We suspect that a cat or neighbor's dog was on the other side and the dogs were barking and jumping on the gate (something they didn't normally do). With the weight of 4 dogs and that much activity, the gate couldn't hold up. We fixed it up so that it would hold and I took pictures to send to mom. In the end, the dogs were all safe, and the dogs let the dogs out.
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