DOG SITTING

I don’t usually like animals. They smell a bit, and chew on things, and you never know when they are going to ……so that's why I still can't quite work out why I like Alfred so much and how he came along and changed all that. It could be because he is the perfect dog really – he doesn’t bark, he doesn’t bite and he’s a great fashion accessory. And he's just so sweet, and so innocent that you can't help but go "ooooohhhhh".... I remember at the end of last year when Elizabeth mentioned she was thinking about buying a dog and I was the friend going “don’t do it – it will change your life” but she did it anyway and it has changed her life, but for the better in lots of ways. I’ve been allowed to dog sit Alfred twice in the last 3 months – neither time went particularly well if I'm completely honest...

The first time was only for 15 minutes, but a memorable 15 minutes at that. Elizabeth kindly agreed to help me to help Daniela move house, so therefore Alfred agreed to help too. We packed up the car & then realised there wasn’t really room for Alfred & I so because Daniela wasn’t moving too far away – I offered to walk round there with Alfred, which, in theory, sounds simple HOWEVER…

a) Elizabeth failed to mention that Alfred gets separation anxiety if she is more than 2 metres away so he started freaking out as soon as she was out of sight !!!
b) She also failed to mention that Alfred has a water phobia (apparently it’s quite common in pugs) and I couldn’t work out why he literally ground to a halt every time we neared a puddle !!! c) I wasn’t at all prepared for the public response to Alfred – about 5 people stopped and patted him and asked questions (which I couldn’t answer and was therefore greeted with strange looks like I’d stolen him)
d) The public response was one thing, but the members of the public who had dogs themselves completely scared the hell out of me !!! I actually picked him up, covered his eyes & turned his little head away when bigger dogs approached, but another friend told me later that this is the worse thing to do !! Whoops.
e) I got to Daniela’s new flat before the car did so Alfred & I stook patiently outside (picking him up whenever another dog went past, of course) and it was all going well until a a woman in a motorised wheelchair nearly fell over when she turned around to get a better look at him !

That was a few weeks ago but yesterday didn't go much better. As soon as she left he somehow managed to find a scotch finger biscuit and started to eat that; (her words "no feeding him from the table, it will only encourage him" were ringing in my ears!) then he nearly swallowed a piece of glass and if that wasn't bad enough - he then managed to climb up a pyramid of pillows and onto the window sill where he stood guard – pacing up and down whilst keeping a close eye on the street to wait for her return ! He was very excited indeed upon her return and I'm not quite sure I'll be left in charge again !!Oh well - I’m off to Australia in a few hours and I must say I will rather miss young Alfred...