MY LIFE HAS GONE TO THE DOGS!

This past week I have been dog sitting. I'm watching the dog over at her house. It's hard being away from my own dogs but my sister is taking very good care of them and I do come home for a few hours every day to visit them.

Every afternoon I take Chloe (the Basset Hound) to the dog park in Seal Beach. She loves going there and we stay about 2 hours.

True to her breed she loves to sniff everything.

She loves to wonder all over the park and see what the other dogs are up to.

This is a really nice dog park. Very big and every kind of dog can be found here. The big dogs and little dogs all get along. It's so cute to watch them all play.

But Chloe's favorite thing to do is to go up to the humans and get lots of love and pets. Most of the time she rolls over and hopes for tummy rubs.

The dogs take turns being the greeting committee. Any new dog that comes in is greeted with a bark and sniff.

I've really come to love this dog. I'm going to miss her when my time is up. She is so sweet and lovable. I want to take her home but I don't think her owner would be to happy with that.

The only real bad thing that happened is this dog loves to find things and take them then chew them up. I tried to put everything up in high places. Some how she finds ways to get in places you would never think she could.

She has found ways to grab things without me seeing her. Sadly she got hold of my glasses and chewed them up before I noticed she even had them. Oh no! I'm blind without my glasses.

Good thing they have one of those one hour eye glass places by me. Guess where I'm going today?

No, I did not yell at the dog. First of all they say if you don't catch the dog in the act of doing something wrong it is useless to punish the dog because they don't understand why they are being punished. But the main reason I didn't do anything is because I don't believe it's the dogs fault. She has never been taught to not grab things and chew them up. The dog doesn't know what she did was bad.

Now my question is...do you think the owner should pay for the glasses? I've had some people tell me she should because she never trained the dog and knows she can get things even if put up high. Also, before she left she did tell me the dog chews things and to keep my things up high. I said to her "Oh I hope she doesn't get anything while you are away." The lady then said "Just keep a list of everything she gets and I will pay you for them." I laughed and said "No, I was hoping she doesn't chew up any of YOUR things while you are away. " So, she was expecting the dog to get into somethings while she was gone and did offer to pay for anything she got.

But, I am thinking I was watching the dog and she was under my care so I should pay. Even though I did put my glasses up on the tallest dresser in the room and it is where she keeps her glasses at. I know this because there were two other pairs of glasses up there. How the dog got up there is beyond me. I swear this dog is magic and can get things she just should not be able to reach.

I would love to hear what you all think. Who should end up paying?

Hugs,
Joanne