Background: I am dog/house sitting this week for some friends of mine while they are in the Outer Banks. This is day4 of the adventure. They have a pit bull/rottweiler mix/mutt named Blackberry (BB). She is 3 years old and a very good dog...not scary as her breeding would suggest.
The story:
I work constantly (12-13 hour days 8:30am--9pm) and so I feel bad leaving BB inside all day, so this morning I got up at the crack of dawn (6:45am) and took BB for a walk. We were on our way by 6:53 am. Well, BB loves her walks and pretty much determines where and for how long the walk will be. I thought we had left in plenty of time to be back by 7:30, so I could shower and be ready to leave for work around 8:20am. I was wrong. BB refused to turn around at any point on our walk by having a sitdown strike if I tried to turn around or go in a direction I chose. She flat out refused to go, no amount of pleading, pulling, or pushing on my part could change that. (I *may* have forgotten to bring treats with me to help in my proddings...but I'm not sure if that would have made a difference).
So we went all the way to the park--a mile and a half away...where BB promptly went #2, so we had to find one of those dog baggy sites, get a baggy--well a few, the idea of picking up the dog doo at 7:30 in the morning, even through 1 bag, was NOT high on my list, so armed with 4 baggies over my hand, I picked up dog poo, and then walked it and BB back to the doggy bag disposal and then out of the park. Apparently the 3 trips to the doggy disposal site had made our walk the appropriate length. So she was amenable (great word, amenable, huh?) to going home at that point. Well since it was late and we had a 1.5 mile trek back I decided we should jog...I should mention I currently have a cold from hell. I made it down one street before I wanted to die, my legs hurt, my chest hurt, and I could not breathe. And I made a wrong turn and had to back track down one block. So our trip home consisted of BB more or less dragging me along behind her at something akin to a power walk...gentle-leader and all--this is designed to keep her from pulling too hard...its somewhat effective, it keeps her pace to my power walk, no slower.
We finally get home, after we more or less jogged up the small hill, home is exciting I guess, I head straight for the door--and it won't open. I try again...and then flashback style 3 images come to mind, 1) my forgotten keys sitting on the dining room table, 2) me at the beginning of our walk, seconds after shutting the door thinking "whoops, I don't have keys, but its ok, I didn't lock the door, and 3) the locked door knob--and "oh yea, I should lock this part of the door" decision minutes before bed last night.
It is approaching 8am, I'm sweaty, sick, and locked out, with a dog excited to be home. Instantly I remember my friend mentioning that they keep a key hidden out back, I race to the back of the house, up the deck, to the grill where the key should be...not there...they must have forgotten to store one of their keys there while they were gone, the normal key that is stored there is the one I have. Great! I'm trying not to panic, I start searching for open windows, luckily they leave several unlocked...and halfway open. Unfortunately, I'm 5'2...and have no access to any ladders and thus no access to windows. As I'm circling back around to the front of the house, weighing options and thinking who to call, (my boss, my mom, my friend on vacation...), I take a second look at the front windows...
I climb up on the rail of the stairs to the house, I can reach the window, I move the screen out of the way...this is a narrow window--about 12 inches wide about 4 feet from me and up...now all I have to do is get my leg into the window and pull myself up...well, my leg reaches, but I don't feel very secure, I'm about 6 feet off the ground, standing on a railing with one leg completely stretched out to my left with a foot in a window, and nothing close to me to hold onto. I need a ladder. None to be had...but there are 3 huge empty garbage cans sitting out. I take one and put it next to the railing...I try not to damage the bush planted there too badly--they just landscaped! And then I stand gingerly on the plastic lid, hoping I won't bend it too badly--or worse fall through. This is good, except, now I'm about six inches shorter than I was when I was on the railing, but I am now directly under the window... Too bad I am short, and now unable to hook my leg in the window, and doubtful that my upper body strength and the size of the window will allow me to pull myself in... Back to Plan A, I am now back on the railing, hooking my leg in the window, grabbing onto the molding as high up and as tightly as I can and swinging my body sideways into the narrow window...
SUCCESS! I make into the house--first try! And I didn't break anything, the house, me... I unlock the door, BB who has watched this whole experiment in breaking and entering (thankfully did not bark at me--that would have been just what I needed--neighbors to witness this and call the police), is waiting at the door extremely excited to go in...and immediately grabs her toy and is ready to play tug of war and chases me through the house with the toy and demands we play before I can shower. We play. I feed her, put her invisible fence collar on, open the back door and head to the shower. I realize with a start at the end of my shower, that I forgot to close up the window that I "broke into"...I wrap up in my towel and hurry straight to close it, because I remember Katie (my friend who owns the house and the dog) cautioned me not to leave that window too far open because BB might try to lean to far out of it and fall out as she is watching the neighborhood...I enter the living room, dripping in a towel and BB jumps on me toy in mouth ready to play, I play because she blocks my progress to the bathroom until we have played a few rounds of tug-o-war. I offer a treat and am free.
I finally leave for work at 8:40, but the dog was fed, watered, walked, and played with, and given a placating sweet potato chew, since I would be gone until 2pm to repeat the process, minus the walk. I think a 3 mile walk, burning 470 calories is enough for one day (gotta love Cardio Trainer on the Android phone to track my progress...the mapping feature is especially nice as I can see all of my backtracks...haha!)
