No Laughing Matter

I'm not a pet person, at least not the kind you keep in doors (there are 3.4 dogs that I like and a couple cats depending on the day and their mood that day). Ironically, I house/pet sit a lot (I like the extra income and staying at someone else's house feels like a vacation). I tell people it is because of how responsible I am.

Well, this week I am dog sitting for a coworker whose on her honeymoon. I had never been to her house before and never seen her dogs but when she called me last week and asked I didn't hesitate a bit to say 'yes'. Monday when I got to her house the cat was super sweet and I knew straight away that he wouldn't be a problem. I dropped my load of stuff on the living room floor. I have yet to master a simple house sitting formula and bring way more than I need, including a bag of food that I usually end up bringing back home with me...completely in tact. I opened the garage door to my dogs for the week. I let them out of their kennels (more complicated than you think since one of them can escape his so his front door is pinned against the garage wall).

The dogs are much bigger than I had imagined. I'm a little scared. I don't show them my fear and rush them out to the backyard. Later that night I feed them, let them out a couple more times and decide it's time for them to go back in their kennels and go to sleep. They are not in agreement. The boy dog gets a little rough with me (in hines sight, he is probably just playing cause he's a puppy) I hold it together till I get them back into their kennels but once inside I freak out. I shed a few tears (cause sometimes that's what panic does to me) and then I pulled a truly brilliant move. I texted the happy couple to ask if someone else could take care of the pets (I was envisioning an entire week of me crying every night and not looking forward to it). Reminder this couple is on their honeymoon and after like 4 hours at their house I'm ready to give up. Long story short I did not give up, I brought in reinforcements.

My friend joined me the next night. She likes dogs and does really well with big dogs so I let her do her thing and wouldn't you know that night was 50 time better than the one before (and I didn't shed a tear). Wednesday night, very similarly to Tuesday night, my friend came over again and played with the dogs and let them jump on her and it was wonderful. She'd be back for several hours on Thursday afternoon too.

Thursday morning started very normal. Alarm rings. Roll out of bed. Drowsily navigate my way to the garage. Let dogs out to backyard. Gather water dishes for fresh water. Grab door handle from garage to house...panic. Door handle doesn't move. Door is locked. I am standing in the garage in my PJs at 6:30 a.m. (luckily I put some flip flops on) and I am locked out of the house (all other doors and windows are locked). Don't panic, maybe their is a key hidden in the garage. Didn't find one. Maybe I can pick the lock. Not so much. Half hour passes and I decide I'm going to have to befriend a neighbor and call a locksmith.

I could give you all the hairy details with a play by play of how many times I cried and all that loveliness but I'll just give you the hard facts. I befriended 2 neighbors (knocked on 4 doors though), called two locksmiths, went through 1/4 a bag of dog treats trying to distract the dogs while I tried backyard doors and windows and spent 4 hours in the garage in my PJs.

It turns out my helpful, doggie loving friend locked the garage door handle out of habit. I take responsibility for not checking that door and have learned a big lesson from this. When I am dog sitting my morning routine needs to start with going to the bathroom and gathering my cell phone (just in case it is several hours before I come back into the house from letting the dogs out).

I'm also going to stop telling people I'm a good pet sitter because I'm responsible...