During my dog sitting business I’ve watched a lot of dogs and most of them come back to stay more than once.  Some, like Dragon (schanuzer) or Asscher (golden retriever), are with me enough that I remember their personalities, likes and dislikes without having to reference anything.  Others like Vesper (german shepherd), I have to be reminded about their personalities and special individual needs.  Luckily when a dog leaves me to go home he/she gets a “Report Card” that reviews what we did during his/her stay and a few stories about the dog and his/her interactions.  When a dog is coming back I don’t fully remember I look back at their old report card and end up giggling all the way through it.  I find all these dogs so amusing!  Here are a few snipits from these write-ups:

“Asscher finally lived up to your warning that she doesn’t like hats and glasses.  Tuesday she jumped in my lap when I had my feet in the pool and snatched my hat off my head.  She was nice enough to give it back to me even when I made her pose with it on and take pictures.  Today (Friday) I was sitting on the ground in the park taking her picture and she decided I could do without my hat and glasses.  All I could hear over my own giggles while pushing her off, was the rest of the humans in the park laughing their heads off. ”

“Jax and Bear celebrated Riggins birthday with him on Sat.  Bear wouldn’t wear a hat but Jax played along and all three got an extra treat for posing in pictures!”

“I can’t even express in words how much Dragon and Jax love each other.  The two of them are inseparable.  Dragon is going to have a tough time after his friend leaves!  My favorite thing they did was play tug of war which Jax always let Dragon win at.  It was adorable.  Sat after everyone got a bath Jax sat nose to nose with Dragon as I combed out Dragon’s hair.  He wasn’t going to let his buddy deal with such horrors alone.”

“Friday night I was in bed sleeping and the dogs heard something at the front door.  Dexter was on it and I could hear his bark as he lead the charge.  Dragon (a schnauzer) and Riggins were on his heels to back him up.  In the meantime Kona (a pit mix) ran the other way, jumped on my bed, and buried her head under my arm.  That was how it went for the whole weekend.  If barking was required, Dexter would sound the alert and Kona would run the other way.”

“Lousy was definitely the leader of the pack.  He would “jump in” any of the dogs that tried to join them.  Once they proved they could hang with him he was happy to include them in the fun”

“I would laugh every time Dexter got in the car.  Riggins would go first and get comfy.  Then Dexter would jump up and immediately crawl on top of Riggins.  Riggins would give me a look like, “this kid … what are you going to do?”  Dexter would then find a spot VERY VERY close to Riggins (close as in partly on top of).  The two of them are so sweet together!”

“Riggins can sometimes be a little old man but he LOVED playing with Peanut.  Peanut would jump on him or give him nonstop kisses until Riggins engaged.  Then the two of them would play for hours”

“Sometimes when we went on our hiking/walking adventures she [Creature] would squeak the entire time.  While at Hahamonga/Rose Bowl my friend who was with us was in awe of her little squeak.  It made us both laugh.  Someone who passed once asked me if she was sad and I said, ‘Nope … she is thrilled to be running around!'”

“At the dog park Ike was quick to engage in play with other dogs.  Riggins would want to jump in but didn’t know how.  All that energy would end up with Ike humping some poor dog and Riggins humping him.  None of the dogs ever seemed to mind.  I broke up a lot of hump trains this weekend!”

Don’t you just want to cuddle them all?  (Just a second I have to go let Vesper out of time-out for being mean to Dragon.  BRB.)   What I NEED to do is write out the “Wendy only notes” on the report cards before I save them on the computer.  You know those little things I need to remember but aren’t really highlights of the trip.  Things like,

“Had to get used to putting Vesper in time-out for being mean.”

“Tends to want to pee in the dinning room.”

“Tends to want to pee on me.”

“Wants to eat all male runners on the hiking paths.”

“Wants to eat all the horse poop on the hiking paths.”

“MUST sit on my shoulder at all times.  Like a bird.”

“Will only eat if I feed her by hand.”

Who am I kidding.  Even with their little oddities I adore them all!  If you want to see more pictures of cutie dogs being happy head over to my babysitting page at http://www.dogvacay.com/pro/wendyandriggins.