Dog Days

NEVER AGAIN.

Never again will I attempt to have 3 small dogs in a one bedroom apartment. Last week, as my mom prepped for her paradise trip to Australia, I was blessed with a 2 week pet sitting job. Since my job is about an hour from her house (2 hours with the lovely Atlanta traffic), I decided to take her 2 mutts to my apartment. As I gathered their cage, bed, bones, food bowls, 20 pound bag of food, and blankets, I began to wonder what I got myself into but kept packing up my car with a smile. Once the dogs were in the car, we were on our way. It was the longest 30 minute drive of my life. Bella wouldn't stop crying and Baxter kept stepping under her to try to get her to stop. The best part was when they both tried to jump into my lap at 70 mph. However, this 30 minute ride was nothing compared to the nightmare I was about to face. Do you know how hard it is to get harnesses and leashes on 3 hyper little demons? Well, I found out pretty quickly! Leia and Bella fight for my attention constantly and this doesn't make the leash task any easier. When I tried to put Bella's harness on, Leia was constantly trying to jump in front of her and on me no matter what I tried. Eventually, I gave up and put her in the other room before I lost it. After 2 days of the nightmare of taking 3 dogs out on leashes, my apartment beginning to have the distinct dog smell, and the dogs getting sick of each other, I finally just loaded up my car and took them to my mom's. I would rather battle rush hour traffic than continue to deal with that horrible experience. However, even loading up the car was a task. First of all, their cage is bigger than my entire bathroom. That was so fun to disassemble and take down 2 flights of stairs piece by piece. By the time I was done gathering half my apartment and putting my suitcases and the dogs in the car, the entire car was packed full. Foolishly, I thought taking the dogs to a big house would solve all of my problems. Well, Leia eats every meal like it's her last which results in a whole 30 seconds of eating time while Baxter takes about 5 minutes because he's older. I'm sure you see where this is going. Leia failed to discover her boundaries with Baxter and Bella so she just finished her food and walked right over to Baxter's bowl. Needless to say, after a most ferocious growl and snap, she won't be doing that again. I could go on about the rolling in the grass, trying to bathe 3 dogs and how sick of the fights between them I am but the truth is... in the end, it was kind of nice to go to bed with 3 dogs cuddled up beside me. But I will never own 3 dogs at once... maybe 2.