I will be giving more specific stories as the days go by now that things have settled. For the 4th of July, I didn't have to work, so I spent the day sleeping and staying inside because of the heat. I have a series of housesitting nights ahead of me at one house, so I was also prepping for that. I didn't want to go anywhere alone to watch the fireworks (Tina was at her job at the Navy Pier long into the night), so I went up to the roof to see if any were visible from there.
Our neighbors were having the remainder of a birthday party on the roof, so I climbed up a rickety ladder to join them (they were happy to help). They were pretty tipsy by then, but very nice. We ddin't stay up there long because the humidity was terrible all through the day and I felt like I was walking through a sponge. I stayed with the party for a while, but I didn't know a whole lot of people and I wasn't able to drink any of the alcohol, so I wound up excusing myself early. I tried to do it discreetly but I wound up being a bit awkward anyway. Oh well, my hope is that they were too drunk to notice.
Time for a Work Story!
One of my clients owns three very large, very rambunctious dogs. I will refer to them by their breed names, which are: Chocolate Lab, Golden Retriever, and Vizsla, which I had never heard of before coming to this house. The Chocolate Lab is a rescue pooch whom will tear up my clothes if I don't defend against her with a pillow as a shield when I let her out of her crate. The Vizsla is also crated in the play area along with the Chocolate Lab just so the Lab doesn't feel entirely isolated. The Golden Retriever has full run of the house.
One of my duties when visiting this house is to brush the dogs' teeth. I have never had to do this before, but the person training me assured me that it wasn't that hard. Both the Retriever and the Vizsla have had their teeth brushed since they were puppies, so they take to it easier than the Lab, who will try to eat the brush. In case you were wondering, they use special beef-flavored Enzymatic toothpaste. Very fancy.
Well, one day, I was just finishing up brushing the teeth of the Retriever and the Lab and was prepping to brush the Vizsla's teeth, when I realized that the dog was no where to be found. I put the toothpaste on the brush and started walking around with it, calling out the Vizsla's name to bring him out of hiding. The Vizsla can often be very shy until he has had some time to play and break out of his shell a little bit.
I checked the living room and playroom areas and was about to check upstairs when I noticed that the bathroom door was a little bit ajar. I approached and opened the crack a little wider when one of the saddest sights I have ever witnessed met my eyes. I tried to recapture the moment with this crappy MS Paint drawing:
For the record, I have never seen a dog sulk before. I haven't really seen humans sulk in the full definition of the word, but there it was, right in front of me. You would have thought I was going to chop the poor dog's paw off.
Nevertheless, I did get into the bathroom and brush his teeth. Afterwards, I gave him a couple of jerky treats to make him feel better, but the sight of him sulking will be forever imprinted on my memory.
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