Wag the Dog

Dog walkers suck. They annoy me, I don't know why. Maybe it's their ability to calmly handle 17 leashes, each attached to dogs of different sizes - small dogs, big dogs, funny looking dogs, 3-legged dogs. They manage to walk these dogs AND handle all their poo. And talk on their cell phone. This is unbelievable to me. Then I stop and think about how much they are getting paid for each dog, and multiply it by 17, and then how many times a day they go for walks...it's not a bad career path. Maybe I will pursue. So as I consider this opportunity, H-ette and I happen to be dog-sitting for a week. We usually let Leia the Wunderdog out the kitchen door and she just goes wherever she pleases - we'll worry about her smelly hills later...and then she comes back to the door and we let her in. No muss, no fuss. But this visitor dog requires an actual leash and a good 20 minute walk (twice a day!) in order to do her business, and quite frankly, that's a big lifestyle adjustment for H-ette and I. But whatever, we're up for the challenge. So this morning H-ette takes the doggies for a solo walk and he comes back completely exasperated...apparently the big 150-pound behemoth mountain dog next door who has free reign of the neighborhood took a liking to Lola the visiting - at least to her hind - and wouldn't un-mount. And then another dog showed up, and leashes were tangled, and H-ette was frustrated. I'm guessing no poo got picked up this morning. (sorry neighbors). So tonight I decided to join him, and it's the four of us in 50 mile an hour winds, and it's just not easy. The dogs go in different directions, they poo and run, making it very hard to pick it up (sorry again, neighbor). By the time we get back home it's like we've been to Kickboxing class, and H-ette and I can't wait to get inside and lay down.

I'm thinking I'll take dog walker off my list of potential career paths.