10/11/2021 I Need to Hide: Adelaide

Before we started our house sit, we visited the house to meet the owner and the dog and to find out all the important things we needed to know, like what day the rubbish goes out and where the dog food is kept.  The owner showed us the separate retreat/granny flat out the back and told us where the keys were.

"The dog's not allowed in here," he said.  "So if you want a break from the dog come and hang out in here."

We nodded and thought 'Meh, we won't need a break. Well be in and out all day, and how hard can one chocolate Labrador be?'

Well, it's not hard at all.  He's a lovely dog and really easy to look after apart from the fact that he's blind.  We learnt to be extra careful when we walked him or Bam! he walked straight into trees/walls/fences.  Because he couldnt see us he didn't move out of our way, so we learnt to walk around him or to nudge him gently rather than just tripping over him.  We learnt to let him know where we were because if we are quiet he 'loses' us and starts barking in panic. 

And he's fallen in love with Roger.

Aww...

He follows Roger around wherever Roger goes.  If Roger goes into the bedroom and shuts the door the dog waits patiently for Roger to trip over him when he opens the door.  When Roger sits down to read a book the dog sidles up beside him, lays his heavy head on Roger's lap, and drools happily.  Sometimes he climbs up on the couch beside Roger and tries to crawl into his lap, which doesn't work because he's a big dog and he's heavy.

Now Roger has started using the retreat. He sneaks in there without the dog noticing, knowing that in his absence the dog will transfer his attentions to me and I will be the one with drool patches on my pants and a wet nose glued to the back of my knees as I walk around the house.  I predict that we will soon have a roster to allow both of us to have dogless time in a dog-hair-free environment, so that in the balance of our time we can continue to meet the dog's emotional security needs.

In all my years of organising respite for carers of humans, I did not once anticipate that I would myself need respite from a dog.

Life is full of unexpected twists and turns.

I am glad to report that Roger has other furry friends with whom he hangs out from time to time.