Dog Sitting: First Few Nights

Meet Cloud, a two month old Siberian Husky who will be staying with us for a few months.  Under an unfortunate circumstance, his owners needed to temporarily send Cloud away until they find a pet friendly apartment. 

I was very excited that Scruffy will finally have a play mate, or so I thought.

Last Saturday, Cloud arrived with his owner.  Scruffy and I met them at the front lawn.  As soon as his owner let him loose, Cloud excitedly ran towards me and started jumping and licking.  I was carrying Scruffy since I did not put his leash on.  To my surprise, Scruffy reacted violently towards Cloud.  He furiously growled, barked, and showed his fangs.  It might be a manifestation of Scruffy being territorial and he might have felt threatened when Cloud ran and jump towards us as well.   

We were worried that they will not get along well.  Cloud does not have an alternative place to stay.  So, his owner decided to stay for the night to help Cloud adopt to his new home.  We spent hours trying to calm Scruffy down.  Although Scruffy and Cloud were in separate pens, Scruffy gets really upset with Cloud's every move, even when Cloud was just sleeping.

The first night was fine since Cloud's owner slept next to his pen.  However, the night his owner left, chaos began.  Cloud whined and cried for hours.  We thought he will eventually get tired and fall asleep.  Unfortunately, we were wrong.  Cloud just cried louder and longer, and became more motivated to get out of his pen, which he eventually did.    

Getting out of his pen was not as horrifying as what he did next.  My uncle went down stairs to check on Scruffy and Cloud.  He did not expect to see Cloud running around the house, chewing on plants and curtains, and worse, made the kitchen his big potty area.  The next thing he knew, he was chasing Cloud around the house at midnight.

When morning came, it was a totally different story!  All I can say is that I have not woken up in a morning of total chaos. :-p

Stay tuned for more of Cloud and Scruffy's "misadventures!"

Don't forget to click the pictures!

Meet Peanut and Oodie

Sniff! Sniff!

What a busy weekend we had!  After having few friends over last Friday, my cousin's friend's parents invited us to have dinner at their house on Saturday.  We brought Scruffy with us.  Even Scruffy was stunned with how busy his weekends went.  The next day, he seemed to be looking for more people, loud voices and laughter, and especially, belly rubs.

It was really great to bring Scruffy along since there are very limited places that allow dogs.  The family who invited us also have two chihuahua mix dogs, Oodie and Peanut.  Scruffy was so excited to play with Oodie and Peanut, he cannot just stop sniffing and following them around.  It did not take long for Peanut to get comfortable with Scruffy, but Oodie, it may take sometime.  Since Peanut and Oodie are already nine years old, they do not have much energy as Scruffy.

Peanut played happily with Scruffy, but for some reason, Scruffy really wanted to play with Oodie.  He tried to call him, follow him around, and teasing him, which made Oodie irritated at times.  Scruffy likes sniffing Oodie's bottom but Oodie did not like it.  Whenever Oodie was not looking, Scruffy tried to sneak behind him and started sniffing.  Then, Oodie started growling and Scruffy run away.  Then again, Scruffy will try sniffing Oodie's bottom and the process of teasing repeats.  Poor Oodie, he tried to find a quiet time by himself but Scruffy did not allow him to.  Naughty little Scruffy!  

We all had a great night!  The lovely couple, Frank and Tracy prepared a very delicious dinner.  The combination of seafood pasta and wine was heaven!  I have not tried drinking as much wine as I had over dinner.  Well, as they say, there is always a first time.  Cheers!

Scruffy Partied All Night!

Party Look!

Aside from weekly visits from other family members, we rarely invite friends over since we had Scruffy.  Scruffy only meets new people when I walk him early in the morning.  But last Friday, Scruffy had a blast!  We invited few friends over for dinner.

Normally, Scruffy gets really excited when someone comes home, as if he has not seen the person for a long time.  He endlessly wags his tail, jumps up and down, rubs his body on your leg, and rolls over asking for a belly rub, or asking to be carried.  But with his excitement, he cannot help not to sprinkle his "love" on the floor or worse, on you.

 At first, we did not understand why he have accidents like that especially when excited.  The vet said it is a normal occurrence for puppies and it may stop once he gets neutered or as he matures.  His accidents lessened when he turned five months old.  I think he is learning to control his bladder better, or so we thought.

When my uncle came home from work, Scruffy did his usual welcome home greeting.  He endlessly wagged his tail, jumped up and down, rubbed his body on my uncle's leg, and rolled over for a belly rub.  But when Scruffy saw my uncle's friend, he happily and quickly run towards him and did what he does best, mark his territory!  We were all surprised.  He did not just do it once, but three times.  Then, I realized that Scruffy had just woken up and probably needed to go potty.  Every time he sleeps, it is guaranteed that he will go potty when he wakes up.  Most of the time when Scruffy gets excited, he forgets what he needs to do.

Well, Scruffy did not stop with one person.  When my aunt's friends came, one of her friends carried him.  Again, Scruffy sprinkled him with "love," but this time it missed the floor and went straight to his jeans.  Good thing he also owns three dogs and used to being accidentally sprayed on.           

Do not disturb!

That was a really fun night!  Nothing can beat an excellent combination of good friends, mouth watering food and wine, and of course, KARAOKE (singing)!  Even Scruffy enjoyed the night!  He did not sleep until everyone left.  It was heaven for him because everyone likes giving him belly rubs.  Just like us, Scruffy was tired and sleepy the next day!

Few more minutes, please!

It did not matter where Scruffy is, as long as he catches up with sleep!  He is such a party dog!  :-)