Beginning to Question My Puppy-Sitting Skills

As much as I'd like to believe I am a good babysitter/puppysitter, I am beginning to wonder if this is true. Remember on the weekend, when Pepper had only been with us less than 24 hours and already he had eaten half a Q-tip. Well, just wait... it gets better (or not).


At 3am Monday morning, Pepper hops off the bed and heads to the door. Apparently, his before bed pee didn't tie him over and there I was, wandering my neighborhood at 3am, taking Pepper out to go potty. All I could think of is "Please don't bark! PLEASE, don't bark! My neighbors will hate me!"

I took Pepper out into the back yard again first thing after getting up for the day for his morning pee. I had forgotten to hook up his leash! Now remember, I don't have a fenced in back yard! When I realize my mistake, I head over to Pep on the grass, hook him up and then look down the common area lawn. HOLY SMOKES... there is my neighbor's overly exuberant, 1 yr old Border Collie, staring down at Pepper. Next thing I know the two dogs are barking up a storm at one another. Tugging. Pulling. I was a little worried that "string" holding Pepper to his retractable leash would hold.

THEN... my neighbor decides to bring her jumping, leaping dog to my backyard where Pepper is going crazy, barking and trying to escape the lunging beast in front of him. Eventually, my dear neighbor gets a clue that neither Pepper or I am enjoying her visit and she takes her dog home, then returns to meet Pepper. Pepper immediately starts barking again when she comes back to the yard. Poor little guy. He eventually settled down but then once back in the house, about 10 minutes later, threw up in the kitchen this "orange juice" looking barf. Was that the tiny piece of chicken hubby gave him Sunday? Note to self... no more people food!

Then, Monday afternoon, after hubby got home from work, we put Pepper in his crate and head to the swimming pool for a while. When we got back I hopped in the shower while hubby came down to heat our leftover dinner in the microwave. As I entered our bedroom after my shower, there was Pepper on our bed... and an empty Kit-Kat chocolate bar wrapper.

"Honey," I called down to the kitchen. "Did you leave a Kit-Kat wrapper on the bed?"

"Uh... No. I did have half a Kit-Kat bar, but the other half was tucked into the cubby on the far side of my desk".

"Ah. Well, I think Pepper enjoyed the rest of your bar!"

There was Pepper on hubby's side of the bed, licking his chops. So, this newby to the world of dogs, runs to the laptop... again... and googles "My dog at a Kit-Kat bar" and surprisingly, there were answers to my query. Fortunately, the replies stated, the bar is mostly wafer and it's milk chocolate which is less toxic to dogs than semi-sweet or dark chocolate. I couldn't believe it. What else can we do to this poor puppy? I don't think we're ready for a dog! I feel too irresponsible -lol

So all Monday evening I was on standby... watching, waiting, wondering what if any symptoms Pepper would show from his sneaky treat. Fortunately he had no ill effects! Phew. The funny part is though, now we keep our bedroom door shut because every time after his theft, he returned to the scene of the crime, crawling over hubby's computer and desk to get to the empty cubby, in the hopes that Uncle "D" has put more goodies in there for him to steal. Silly puppy!

The next day I was scoping out the poop to make sure Pepper was okay and phew... all is well! lol

Now that Pepper knows a) where hubby keeps his stash of goodies and b) where the other dogs in the neighborhood live, he's becoming more "comfortable" here at Auntie Sue's and he'll sit and growl at me when he wants to go out... not that he needs to pee because we had just been out the front to pee. No, he growls at me to take him out back so he can bark at the big dog down 3 doors! He knows when that dog is out there! Oh my... Am I really ready for a dog? lol