I was asked out of the blue if I could dog sit Hutch, a quite active young dog. Of course I said sure and figured it’d be quite the adventure and a good experiment to see if I was ready to perhaps get a pet of my own sometime soon.
Hutch is pretty crazy and energetic, this I had already known. However, there was no preparing me for that first night. The poor guy was just overloaded with change, and had probably the worst case of gas that I had ever endured. I didn’t think something so small could produce such a horrible smell for that long of a time. It was constant and at times I thought I would be stained of that smell for life. He was completely nuts that first night and I would wind up sleeping a tad over an hour and a half that night. I wasn’t too happy at that point.
At around 5:30 am I realized that I can’t leave him just roaming around my house by himself while I was at work. There was just no way this little gas bomb wouldn’t explode at some point in my house and let’s be honest most likely on my new couch. So I went straight to my parents to find a dog cage to borrow. Luckily they still had a very large cage as we’ve had some big dogs. He was fine getting in there and luckily he lasted the day ok.
We walked, and walked a lot. Probably walked 6-8 miles every day. I was determined to wear the little guy out.
Apparently his was of communicating with me would be to hump me. Most dogs bark, sit, whine, not Hutch. He has to hump me. I wasn’t a big fan of this one bit and believe he attempted to hump me well over several hundred times during his stay.
I’m not sure exactly when it occurred but he finally settled down by day 3. We kinda became buddies by then and he would nap next time me as I watched TV. Mind you, I really didn’t want to watch TV, but if it gave him a change to rest and act sane I would find something to watch.
I’d say our favorite thing was going to the Arboretum across the street from me and sit in the center on the benches. He could take in thousands of different smells and watch so many people and other dogs on the bike path go by. It was very calming for us both, and he seemed very grateful during our stops there.
A close second would be watching him run like a madman with his buddy Pip. Clearly we had the two most foolish dogs on Dog Beach, but they sure seemed to have a great time. I do believe Hutch was more obedient than Pip on that adventure.
A big lesson learned was never give your dog Seafood Chowder snacks. They came with the Hutch care kit, but apparently they were something new. Poor Hutch had the most disgusting diarrhea and gas until I would solve the Seafood Chowder mystery by the fourth day. God I wish I had known that sooner.
Though we got off to a rocky and very smelly start, in the end I’d say we become good friends. We had some excellent walks and really got to understand one another pretty well. Though a bit on the crazy side, Hutch was a good dog and it was a lot of fun having him stay for a few days.