Risk of Pet Watching for Friends or Relatives

     Have you ever been asked to watch a dog, cat or other animal for someone while they’re on vacation.  It can be a disastrous situation especially if young children, even young adults are involved. We had two occasions when this happened. 

     Once we watched a hamster for a friend down the street.  Patrick volunteered to feed and care for Marisa and Nick’s hamster.

     It seemed like a pretty simple task the neighbors brought the hamster over to us with food and a cage complete with a exercise tube and wheel that allowed the hamster to run around without getting lost.  Pat did a good job giving food and water to the hamster but we noticed later on in the week the hamster was spending a lot of time in the wheel and tube rather than his cage.  Well to our shocking surprise we discovered there was a door that closed off the wheel and tube, which somehow was closed locking the hamster in the tube without access to the food and water.  But, Alas! It was too late for the little creature, there was no reviving it. 

     Now what were we to do, get a new hamster and try to pass it off as theirs.  We could take it in to the pet store and try to match its’ color, you know like a paint chip to a color chart but that just seemed wrong.  So, we just confessed to our neighbors that we failed in our duties while watching their cute little hamster.  They took it well but we did not get any additional request to watch any of their animals. 

     The 2^nd incident happened when we were at my sister (Rose) and brother-in-law (Bud’s) house for a family get together the day before they left on vacation.  Throughout the night there was discussion what to do with their golden retriever dog (Charmin) while they and their kids (Bridget & Scott) were gone.  Rose ask my kids (Maureen and Pat) if they could come over to their house and feed/water the dog plus letting her run in the yard a little.  They both said yes they could do that, but later on the discussion changed to leaving the dog at the kennel. This discussion went back and forth a couple of times between Rose/Bud and our kids sometimes us.  So by the end of the night, I truly didn’t know what was going on with the dog, but before leaving we ask and Rose said “We got it covered”.  I took that to mean that her and our kids made some arrangements. 

     The next day I said to my kids when they were going over to take care of Charmin and they both said “No, they took Charmin to the kennel” “Really” I said “Are you sure?” “Yes, Dad” they exclaimed.  Mimi (my wife) agreed that was the final word. 

     So the week went by quickly as most summer weeks do, when on the day of their return I got a phone call from Bud wanting to know what kennel we took Charmin to, What? Holy Crap, what do I say, your kidding right?  We didn’t, you were going to do that.  I could hear the panic in his voice and so could his kids because I heard them starting to sob.  I had their garage code so I told Bud I would hurry over there and check on Charmin.

     I wasn’t sure what to expect when I arrived but a week without food, would I be picking up a body.  I entered the garage then carefully opened the door to the house calling for Charmin and to my surprise she bolted into the kitchen excited to see me.  On the counter I saw a 30 lb bag of dog food opened but undisturbed.  I walked around the house and I found very little disruption at all, just a plant that was knocked over and some wet spots on the carpet.  I quickly went to fill her dog bowl with food but Charmin seemed more interested in playing than eating.  Amazing I was so relieved I can’t even explain it.  Bud, Rose and the kids arrived home shortly after I put food out for Charmin and to put it mildly they were even more relieved than me.

I learned 2 things from this experience. 

First, make sure there is no mis-communication get clear instructions. 
Second, even after going a week without food, Golden Retrievers are more anxious to play than to eat.  We don’t get many calls to watch other peoples pets these days (I wonder why) but we have watched Maureen’s dog, Zuma without incident so I guess we’re getting better.