Down The Road A Piece ... in a 5th wheel: A Day of Dog Sitting

JoAnn and Wally's daughter, Jen, and her husband and kids are here this week visiting. They went to Disney World yesterday and Jack and I agreed way in advance to take care of their Boxers, Winston and J.J. Mondays, though, Jack plays golf so I was on my own. I didn't say anything to JoAnn and Wally because I was afraid one of them would stay home and since they haven't seen Jen since October I really wanted to them to enjoy a nice day with their family. Besides, how difficult could it be? Well, after Jack and I walked them before he went to play golf I began to question my decision. As was the case the first time we dog sat them a month or so ago...when J.J. walked me. I began to sweat. Jack doesn't normally get home from golfing until 5:00 or so. I knew it was going to be a long day.

Shortly after Jack left I made the bed, fed our two and took them on their morning walk. When we got back to the RV it was noon. Jack and I had walked Winston and J.J. around 10:45 so I knew "the boys" wouldn't need to go potty for a few more hours. Monday's is normally my cleaning day and as I started to attach the vacuum hose to it's outlet my thoughts went to Winston and J.J. Since they are such huge dogs they have to be crated when JoAnn and Wally leave the RV. It was such a beautiful day, my heart wasn't in to cleaning. It was with the dogs across the street and knowing how much they'd enjoy being outside. BUT I had to come up with a plan. I've always allowed them to jump on me; Winston's as tall as I am but that's their way of greeting me. Wally doesn't like me to allow them to jump but I can't help it. They are so darn cute. However, being alone with them and having them both jump on me, while trying to get their collar and leash on them, could create a situation that might prove harmful; to me.

To make an even longer story shorter the day was a huge success. Within 20 minutes I was walking them to the dog park and a long walk around the campground. They both walked perfectly by my side (although they HAD to walk side by side) and every once in awhile they'd look at each other and give one another a kiss. It's as if they were saying, "I'm so glad you are my brother. I love you!"

Later, after the walk, I decided I still didn't want to clean. I grabbed a DVD, my laptop and headed back across the street. The DVD was due back that evening so I figured I could watch it as easy with the "boys" running free at their house as I could here in our RV while our two slept the afternoon away.

I poked my head in the door and greeted them. I told them before I let them out of their crate that they could not jump on me or the bed. I opened their door and both greeted me with kisses but did not jump on me. I sat my laptop at the kitchen table and proceeded in hunting an outlet. While crouching down behind the recliner to reach the outlet one of my Crocs fell off. Winston immediately grabbed it. I stood up and retrieved it from his mouth. No chomp marks. Good. Back to the outlet. The other Croc fell off but this time J.J. took off with it. RV's aren't that large so I only had to chase him a few steps. He jumped up on the sofa, my Croc hanging from his mouth. He looked like the cat who swallowed the canary. He turned it over without incident. No chomp marks.

Found the outlet and returned to the table. WHERE I found slobbers on my sunglasses and a doggie drool covered monitored. The rest of the day was great. Except for the few times they both headed for the bedroom and the sound of two huge dogs jumping on the bed reached my ears. "Boys," I yelled in at them, "get off the bed!" Ker plunk!!! Their feet hit the floor and out they came. Jack finally called me around 9:30 and asked if I was coming home anytime soon.

I just have such a new appreciation of big dogs. Gabe has two big dogs and they are both loving dogs but I seldom get to spend time with them alone. My day with Winston and J.J. was very relaxing. I enjoyed every minute of them. I snapped several pictures of them. I hope you enjoy looking at them as much as I have.

Winston has the red collar on; J.J. the blue one. Winston outweighs J.J. by 14 lbs. but J.J. is the Alpha dog. When I first took them outside to play Winston immediately jumped up and knocked my soda out of my hand. This is them eating the ice cubes. Entertained them for a good 15 minutes.