Sometimes you wonder what pets feel when changes occur in their lives—maybe their owners are going on a trip and need someone to care for them while their humans are gone. Imagine the conversation…through their eyes – if pets could talk.
Meeting the New People
If Pets Could Talk
Oh, if only pets could talk! Something is going on. My humans are busy on their computers and phones doing things, and now there are two new people at the door coming into the house. Well, my humans shook their hands and offered them a seat in the kitchen and some coffee, which is a good thing. I wonder who they are. Why are they here? What’s going on? I wonder if it has anything to do with what my humans are preparing for.
The last time my humans were packing suitcases, we went to stay at a kennel, which was okay, but I missed my bed, food, friends, and the smells of my neighbourhood. So, the new people seem nice, but why are they ignoring me? Neither one of them is trying to pet us; maybe they’re waiting to see what we think and do. That’s cool; we like that!
My humans are talking about a lot of things with the new people; they’re on the second and third cups of coffee. Wow! They’re laughing a lot and seem to be enjoying each other’s company. Oh boy, we’re going for a walk with new people, and my human is letting one of them take me! Now that’s another good sign.
Back from the walk, and the man is good, as he is asking my human about the walks, locations, places to not go to, leashes, etc., and, you know, they seem nice. We’ll see about that later.
You see, we’re skeptical of any new people looking after us because we get medicine regularly during the day, and schedule walks and playtime, so it’ll be interesting if the new people do stay with us when our humans are away!
Why Are They Leaving
Through their Eyes:
Well, now the new people are going, and we allowed them to pet us, for which our humans were impressed! I hope the new people come back to stay with us as it’d be a lot better to sleep in our beds. Did I mention that already? Yes, sleeping in our beds is always good!
Our humans’ kids are grown up, with kids and dogs of their own, which is always fun to be with at family dinners and occasions, as we share our treats with their dogs when they are at our place, which is okay because they share their treats when we are at their homes!
Anyhow, now the new people are gone; I wonder if they’ll be back, but in the meantime, our humans seem to be content with the new people, so maybe, just maybe, they’ll be staying with us? If pets could talk, we could get the lowdown on their plans!!
They’re Back!
It’s now two weeks later, and our humans’ suitcases are all packed up and sitting in the foyer, and there’s the doorbell! Oh, look! It’s the man and lady that were here a couple of weeks ago! They’re shaking hands and hugging our humans, taking off their shoes, and hanging up their jackets, so I guess they’re staying for a bit.
We greet the new people with some sniffs and a couple of barks and follow them into the kitchen, where they’re learning our medicine schedule and food blends, so it looks like they’re staying with us!
Well, before you know it, the new man says it is time for a walk! Wow, our second-best word, next to food! So the new lady and man put the leashes on us, poop bags in tow, and away we go for a long, long walk. When we got back, our humans were gone, but that’s okay, as the new people fed us a little treat for being good on our walk. If pets could talk, we could tell them how happy treats make us.
Settling In
The real test will be to see if the new man and lady manage our medicine and food schedules correctly. In the meantime, they are sitting in the den; the man is watching a show, and the lady is reading a book. It’s now close to bedtime, so we’re going for a pre-bedtime walk, and if we’re good on the walk, we might get another treat! We’re back and had success, and YES! We get a small treat for the walk. This is so easy!
-
Breakfast Time
We settle into our beds; the new guy and lady are sleeping in the guest bedroom, and we listen to see how loudly they snore, as we need our beauty sleep! The next thing we know, it is morning, and the new guy is up and calling us to go outside for a pee! He seems to be on time, and when we come in, we get another little treat! In a few minutes, we’re going for a regular walk in the neighbourhood and then breakfast.
We all gather by the front door, barking and jumping up and down, anxious to get outside, and then away we go! We’re on leashes today as the new guy knows that we bark and chase our neighbour’s cars as they go off to work; we only run along the grass next to the roads, but they’re safe with us.
Breakfast is exactly the way we like it—the new people nail it, so we are nicer to them—but now comes the real test: administering the eye drops and medicine we need to stay healthy. The new lady does the eye drops, she’s nice and gentle doing it—I guess she’s had dogs before, as she’s so gentle and makes it all okay! Did I mention that after the medicine, she rewarded us with another small treat?… If pets could talk we would tell this new lady how much we like her.
-
During the Day
Throughout the day, the new people work on their computers at the house, and take us out for walks at lunchtime, late afternoon and pre-bedtime strolls, so we all sleep through the night. You know they seem like nice people, so we’re going to sleep in their room with them for a little, not all night, but just for a little while, as we need to ‘break them into the family circle.’
My brothers and I stay in the kitchen with the new guy as he lets us out in the yard when we need to go pee, or it’s sunny on the deck, and he brushes us, feeds us, gives us pats, and is good to us. I guess he had pets before, as he knows all our tricks and makes us wait, one at a time for our treats.
The new guy wipes our paws with the stuff our humans showed him; when it’s raining, he towels us off and dries us well so we don’t get a chill, and the new lady makes sure our medicine is done as per the schedule.
Reassuring Us and Our Family
Each day shows us that they care about us; they play with us, walk us, and we allow them to be a bigger part of our world.
They send text messages with photos to our humans daily and let them know all is well. Don’t get us wrong, we do miss our humans, but the new people are cool, and we cuddle with them now. We trust them, and it’s important to us that we trust them!
You know, it means a lot to us that we’re well taken care of; it was not easy the first couple of days, but the new people showed us that they care, and it means a lot to us. Really! If pets could talk, we would tell them this.
********************
We hope you enjoyed imagining life through their eyes—if pets could talk. We have created a collage of a few (I say few, but at last count, we were at 85!) of the pets we have sat for; some have passed on—Caesar, Winston, Pippa, Zoe, and Stanley—but they remain in our hearts. We have loved and enjoyed looking after each one of these pets. Cats may not require walks or a lot of attention, but they love affection and being cuddled – even if it is on their terms.
The last little puppy, a golden retriever named Tucker, is a new addition to the family that lost Stanley. We are looking forward to continuing his training while his family is away on vacation.
I am a Canadian baby-boomer-aged comedian who does not do winters; When not house sitting, I enjoy playing the drums and tennis, laying on the beach soaking up the sun, watching the world go by, and spending my children’s inheritance.
If you think you would like to do this too, then check out the service that we use. You never know, you might find it fun – you will certainly meet a lot of new people and endearing pets along the way.
I am a Canadian baby-boomer-aged comedian who does not do winters; When not house sitting, I enjoy playing the drums and tennis, laying on the beach soaking up the sun, watching the world go by, and spending my children’s inheritance.