Adventures in Petsitting

The closest thing I got to a clear picture of all four dogs

Simmie meeting Albus

This past weekend I was petsitting three dogs and two cats. So, all told, I was caring for six animals including Ebon. Most of those animals were owned by members of my family: Willow, Siggy, Albus, and Ginny. I also watched the neighbor's dog, Simmie, short for Seminole if I'm remembering right. Simmie is a golden retriever who's about two years old. He's quite the puppy still.

In many ways, Simmie reminds me of Ebon as a young fella. The major difference? Simmie is WAY calmer.  Ebon was far more energetic at the same age. The difference is rather remarkable. I suppose that's what you get, though, when you compare a dog that was bred to work and one that was bred to be either a pet or a show dog. This is honestly the first time I've spent enough time with a non-field-bred retriever to notice the difference. Ebon's energy level now at age eight is about equal to Simmie's, he just controls it a lot better.

The remains of my laptop cable

The weekend was interesting, complete with a few minor disasters. The first was someone chewing my laptop cable into dozens of pieces. In all likelihood, it was one of "the blonds": Willow or Simmie. I'm getting a new one, but it was a frustrating surprise.

Siggy being anxious

It also rained almost the entire weekend, which caused a lot of drama with the greyhounds. As I've mentioned several times before on the blog, Siggy has serious issues with thunder and heavy winds. When it's noisy outside there is no way to possibly get him to move from whatever corner he curls up in. He'll even refrain from eating, and in fact I couldn't get him to eat for an entire day. Then once the rain was gone he was understandably starving. Willow isn't bothered by the noise, but refuses to walk on wet grass. That combined with Siggy's want to walk as little as possible made walking the dogs quite...interesting. The retrievers, of course, were more than happy to walk as long as I wanted them to.

Simmie and his butt fluff. He happy dances just like Ebon: toy in mouth, wriggling on back

The retrievers

Then, there's Ebon. He's such an easy dog most of the time, partly because I know his quirks so well now, but that doesn't mean he's perfect by any means. I let him run around off lead a couple of times while I walked the others since his recall's pretty darn sound and he's not one to run across the street if I ask him not to. It also made dealing with four dogs easier. However, at some point when I didn't have my eyes on him he ate something. When he threw it up it looked like a plastic food wrapper of some sort. It wouldn't be the first time some sort of trash found its way into the yard for whatever reason. I also think whatever he ate is responsible for the diarrhea that he started having at the same time. He spent a day without food before I put him on a bland diet. He's not showing any signs that there's any more stuff bothering his gut, but I'm continuing to watch him just in case he's trying to pass any leftovers. Now, though, after several days, he should have expelled anything that may have been left. He's transitioning back to kibble now.

Willow roaching. Unlike Siggy, she sleeps on her back fairly regularly. You can see her bald belly from her spay

Of course, there was no drama with the cats. Cats are so easy. Ironically, one of the main reason I was petsitting is that Albus, the grumpy twelve-year-old tom, can't be left alone due to concerns regarding his urinary health. He's had two urinary blockages so far, which can result in dangerous spikes in blood toxicity and possible death if not quickly treated. Ginny, now eleven, is still healthy as can be. Being born feral, I think she has better genes than Mr. Bad Teeth and Bladder Issues. A feral cat with poor genetics would probably die fairly young.

Lizards and Shenanigans

I've been seeing a lot of green anoles (Anolis carolinensis) around here lately (which I mentioned in one of my first posts on this blog). They have always been rather numerous, along with dragonflies (mostly green darners) and green tree frogs they are the creatures I see the most often this time of year. They love to sun themselves on our bricks and hide under anything and everything that may be on the porch.

A green anole in the brown form. They can change color depending on conditions

I was surprised, however, when a hatchling tried to become the newest inhabitant of the house. It lept inside when I opened the door to take Ebon out. I managed to catch it and put it back outside before the cats tried to eat it. We had a snake in the house once, and Albus and Ginny both tried to bite its head off, so I wouldn't put it past them. The anole was a squirmy little thing and kept slipping out between my fingers. I didn't want to harm it because it was so small, though, so I wasn't holding it very tightly. I try to be gentle with them because they will drop their tails if you grab them even momentarily. I've only made that mistake once.

It was smaller than my pinkie finger and panted vigorously after I let it go

On a different note, I swear the mammals only get more insistent in their obsession with cheese crackers. Last time they were only begging a little bit. Today? Well, see for yourself. I mean, really now:

Albus, Ebon, and Ginny in their continued obsession with cheese crackers

I gave Ginny one for being brave today. She isn't always okay with being this close to Ebon and she let him sniff her nose. Ebon was being very polite, so he got one too. He's usually very good about not being too pushy with her and I give him constant praise for good behavior. If he gets too excited I'll call him off (either "Out," "Back," or "Here" depending on the situation and an "Uh-uh!" if he doesn't listen first time). I haven't had to take him by the collar and lead him from the room in years.

All of This for Cheese Crackers

Three attentive little creatures: Ebon, Albus, and Ginny

I mentioned a little bit ago about Albus' love of cheese crackers. Well, he's not alone. At one time or another, all of the pets (the mammals at least) have managed to get their paws on one and they've gone crazy for them. I decided to have a little snack of Goldfish crackers today, and within a minute this happened. That's my foot, and they are all in fact staring directly at me. Well, Ginny was, but she glanced down right before the flash went off. Isn't that always how it happens?

Albus is the worst offender. He knows what the packages sound like when you open them and he will come running, meowing and purring and pawing at the counter in the hope that he will get one. He's always done this, but he's been spoiled a bit lately because he lost weight during his hospital stay and he's become especially bratty. It's funny because Albus goes gaga over cheese crackers, but he won't touch real meat. They get some occasionally as a treat, and though the others chow down he'll just sniff it and walk away. He's a very odd cat.

Ebon, being a dog, is nearly always at hand in case someone drops something. He especially likes crunchy things because they have nearly the same texture as the treats I use when training him, and he always gets excited about the prospect of training. I suspect he associates anything crunchy with this, and thus crackers = crunchy = treats = fun times. With a simple word he'll stop begging, but this was just too funny.

Ginny was a bit of a surprise. She's not very fond of Ebon because he's so much larger than her and his playfulness doesn't mesh well with her skittish nature (due to the fact that she's rather feral). However, they're on fairly good terms and she does love cheese crackers nearly as much as the other two. I think she's also learning what the package sounds like.

And yes, I gave in and they each got one. Except Ginny. She managed to put on weight while Albus lost it, so I'm being hard-hearted and abstaining from giving her any treats.