[Dailydrool] Pet sitters, doggy doors, Watson update and Argentina

[Katie Strobel]

Hello everyone,
We are currently on vacation  - which is why there haven't been many
Watson updates. We are in Buenos Aires, Argentina visiting my future
inlaws, and have been so busy that I'm just reading drools instead of
posting. Anyway, I wanted to contribute to a few things, and let you
all know that we didn't fall off the earth.

About pet sitting: There are three dogs who are at home right now,
abandoned and surely really upset. I am sure they would have written
in to the drool if we hadn't taken the computer from them. We found a
friend to come and stay at the house with the dogs during our 3 week
trip, but before we found these people we were researching boarding
and different arrangements for people to come by the house to feed the
dogs and play with them. We live in Greeley, Colorado. There is one
website for a business in Greeley for a pet sitting service who comes
and spends 30 minutes doing whatever you want them to with your dogs.
It depends on the amount of dogs and the number of visits per day, but
for our three for one afternoon visit per day it was 23 dollars. Their
website is http://www.purrfurrdpetsitting.com/how_it_works.shtml. On
that page they have a chart with the number of pets, the number of
visits per day, and the cost. Anyway, I hope that give you a local
idea. I am sure that in some places in Colorado it would be more
expensive than Greeley since Greeley isn't all that large of a town.
Surely though it couldn't be much more.

About doggy doors: Watson has no fear of doggy doors, but Val's story
about the cat sitting on the other side of the door and preventing
entry to the dogs made me giggle. Watson's surrogate mommadog, Daisy,
a very vigilant border collie, thinks she is the queen of the world.
She will lay on one side of the doggy door and snarl at anyone who
dares pass. Watson will just sit and bark in her face until she moves
- he knows that she would never hurt him because he's her "baby", and
he has no fear of anything except the vet. Jack, the other neurotic
border collie of the household, will not pass Daisy when she's in
front of the door. He'll go pee downstairs if he's inside and she
won't let him out, or if he's outside and he wants to come in, he'll
hop our 6 foot fence and come around to the front door and wait for us
on the porch...he's terrified of being outside without the ability to
come back in and does crazy things if we're not there to make sure he
has free access to the doggy door...we think he was dumped in the
country and endured thunderstorms that haunt him now.

Anyways, this is getting long so I'll just say that as of two and a
half weeks ago, Watson was healing beautifully. He was running and
jumping with ease, learning to use his new steps to get on and off the
bed and couch, and was having no problems with his better than ever
knee. I haven't heard any reports of limping or concerning behavior so
I am assuming that all is well. We called today to check in on
everyone and our friend reported that Watson was outside attacking the
sprinklers, as is his routine. I miss him terribly, and absolutely
cannot wait to see him.

When we got to Buenos Aires, we were driving to the future inlaw's
apartment and saw a dog-walker on the street with none other than a
beautiful basset boy. We took it as a good omen, and watched him walk
away with the dog walker and about 5 other dogs. We haven't seen him
since, but it was such a wonderful sight to see a basset so far away
from home.

I send condolences to those who have lost their babies I've read the
posts through tears during my morning coffee, and I want you all to
know that we're thinking about you during this difficult time. Watson
is surely drooling plenty in 20 straight days of over 90 degree heat
back home for all those who need it.

Hasta Luego,
Katie and Watson (probably getting pretty wiggly and obnoxious since
it's almost dinner time at home)