Biggie and Sir are BFF’s.
They enjoy being neighbors, taking walks together, and playing
together. But until this week they have
never had an overnighter. Although they
are still best friends, a few jealousies have crept into their relationship.
As I have written before, Biggie is my part-time dog. My wife and I have looked after him on a
part-time basis for many years now. At
first it was everyday while his mom was at work, and then after we both moved,
it has been visits for a few days to a couple of weeks at a time.
Sir belongs to one of Biggie’s mom's new neighbors. Sir is a little white poodle, and Biggie not
only likes Sir, but he enjoys being with Sir.
This is the only time Biggie has ever wanted to be with another
dog. But Sir seems to feel the same way
about Biggie.
Sir’s mom became ill and had to be hospitalized for over a
week, and Biggie's mom took up the reins to oversee the recovery of her
neighbor. Both Sir and Biggie needed a
place to stay during this time, so my wife and I turned our home into a two-dog
kennel. I thought keeping up with
Biggie was tough enough. Oh, was I in
for a surprise. Overall it was a good
experience, and we were very happy to provide these two doggies a safe haven
while their worlds were in turmoil. But
there was a learning curve for all parties involved.
What we did for one dog had to be done for the other
dog. If one of us picked up Biggie, Sir
needed to be picked up. If one dog went
for a walk, both dogs had to go for a walk.
If one got a treat, both had to have a treat. If one dog got a bath, the other dog disappeared completely. Baths are the only thing they did not wish
to share.
I was surprised to discover they ate the same amounts of the
same food each day. This was purely
coincidence, but it made my life a bit easier.
I placed their food in separate dishes and showed them which one was
theirs, and they had no problem with this.
They didn’t try to eat each other’s food, but they did check out what
and how much the other was getting.
Biggie is not exactly a snuggly, cuddly, or playful dog, but
Sir is. However, anytime Sir found a
lap to snuggle in, Biggie would go into non-stop barking mode. He still didn’t want to snuggle, Biggie just
didn’t like it that Sir was getting something he wasn’t getting.
