My assistants son, Riley (approximately 12.5-years old) will be keeping Lucy (approximately 5-months old) while I am away this weekend speaking at a conference, and all next week while I am traveling down south. It’s costing me $20 a day, which isn’t bad when you consider the going rates at a kennel. Still, I am putting together a bit of a to-do list for Riley. Got any suggestions on what I can add to it?
Here tis:
1. Daily feeding.
2. Daily walks (1 short and 1 long, total of an hour or so.)
3. Daily massage. Not deep tissue, just light upper back and shoulders and also hind legs.
4. Read her a story at bedtime. Nothing scary, just something about cats falling down or in embarrassing situations.
5. Daily verbal affirmations. (You look nice today, Lucy. We like you better than our dog Roxy, Lucy. We wish Roxy would run away so we could have you, Lucy.)
6. Help Lucy with her homework. Right now I am teaching he to bag her own poo.
Anything I am forgetting? Have a great wednesday.
First, good lookin’ dog, I also have a chocolate lab, Abby. Some clarifications on current rules (all of which are good).
1. How much to feed
2. For the walking, I would also encourage some sprint work for Lucy. Anywhere this is possible?
I personally like to give our chocolate lab, Abby, a voice in matters. Literally. “Thank you Matt, you look nice as well. Can we go out now? Hey, I see a squirrel! Scratch my butt please.” This may be a result of us being alone in the mountains for a while.
Finally, depending on how vigorously you are training Lucy, ask Riley to keep the same boundaries with her. If she doesn’t get on the couch, he shouldn’t let her. If you’re training to heel, he should as well. If she doesn’t eat people food, he shouldn’t give her any.
Just some thoughts, we’ve had friends dog-sit Abby many times because of our travel schedules, and she never seems worse for the wear. Of course, living on a lot of land helps as well.
Good luck and God bless with the boarding and your conference!
How silly of me, I was sent this and didn’t realize this was 2 years ago. Hope all went well