Lois’ Doggie Daycare

I’ve been puppy-sitting my “grand-dog” for the past week while my son and son-in-law are out of town.

Isabelle is 15 years old and deaf, but that doesn’t stop her from using her raspy weird short little bark, insisting that she needs to go outside to do her business, or woofing at the TV when a dog or some other four-legged creature comes on the screen.

She sleeps a lot. And I do mean, a lot. As in, most of the day. Sleeping through the night is a challenge for her, so she has some doggie drugs to help her stay asleep all night. She also takes a bit of a pain med that helps her feel better and I think it’s working, but you know, it’s hard to tell since she sleeps all day. She has pug neuropathy, which means her back legs are very wobbly and she isn’t able to navigate stairs anymore. Fortunately she’s a little doggie girl, probably weighing in at about ten or twelve pounds, so carrying her up and down the steps of the porch is pretty easy to do.

The first night she stayed with me, she slept all night. I thought, well, this is going to be a piece of cake. But then the next two nights happened. She was up at least twice during each night, wanting to go outside. It’s been dry and cold at night, down into the 30s, and getting up to take her outside to pee was not my favorite part of this adventure, especially when she would just stand outside and look at me. Silly girl. Pee already!

Then I discovered a couple of little half-pills on the floor – she had been spitting out her night-time pill instead of swallowing it. Well, no wonder she wasn’t sleeping all night! I fixed her wagon, though. I crushed her little half-pill and stirred it into a spoonful of her dinner that I had kept out and gave it to her for a bedtime snack. She thought she was getting a treat and I was making sure she got her night meds down her throat. Win/Win all the way around! We both slept through the nights after that.

She came to my house with enough equipment for ten dogs, including three beds, five (or maybe more) blankets, a doggie stroller that she slept in at night, a set of rear-end wheels in case we wanted to go for a walk, a bag and a half of frozen raw meat nuggets, two different bottles of pills, a bottle of joint oil, various bottles of liquids for her ears and skin, a pet hair roller, a travel water bottle, and a bowl of leftover Thanksgiving turkey gravy to put on her food. I’m sure I’ve missed something but there you have it. Oh yeah… a special elevated silicone doggie bowl and a water dish. Ok, I think that’s it.

Isabelle has developed a stance that allows her to stand for seemingly hours at a time. It’s really probably only five or ten minutes but when she’s standing there, all propped up with her back legs askance, it can feel like hours when it’s the middle of the night and freezing cold outside. Bless her heart. I’m sure she isn’t doing it on purpose.

She let me take her pic with some reindeer antlers on; isn’t she the cutest?

We went for a couple of short drives – she loves to ride in the car. I never did take her for a walk, though… she was more interested in sleeping all day.

She went home today. I will definitely miss her little fluffy furry self. It’s been fun to have her here, patting her little head as I walked by her or carrying her down the steps to the back yard or giving her treats (oh yeah! She came with a bag of freeze-dried beef lungs for special treats. They’re so weird.).   Thanks for spending a few days with me, Isabelle, and thank you, Mark and Nico, for letting me take care of her while you were out of town. Please come back any time!