Dear Jennifer,

Thank you for house and pet sitting! We hope you enjoy spending time with the dogs and cats. We aren’t insane pet parents so as long as everyone is ok when we get home, it is all fine with us. However, I’ll write up a note on them so you know what you are getting in to.

Thanks!

Elecia & Christopher

Introduction

We have two dogs (Zoe and the Bear):

Zoe is an 8 year-old beagle (right). She doesn’t howl but she’s got all the other beagle traits (“merrily stubborn” means she’s happy but she thinks we are idiots). Bear is a 7 year-old maltese-poodle cross (moodle? maltipoo?). He’d love to be carried in a purse and he’s genetically engineered to crave laps.

We also have two black cats. This one is Anakin.

This one is Dylan.

It is easy to tell them apart, Ani is small and fuzzy and has white whiskers, Dylan is a little Jabba-the-Hut-esque. Oh, and Ani will be running away from you. She does not like people at all. If you sit quietly on the couch, she may deign to let you pet her or, more likely, she’ll groom you. Dylan will do anything for you if you feed him.

Food

Bear and Zoe get separated for feeding because Zoe doesn’t like letting Bear eat. Zoe gets two scoops twice a day in her crate. Bear gets one scoop twice a day but won’t eat all of it. They start dancing around 6:30pm, demanding their dinner. We try not to give in until 7pm but that is mostly because watching Bear dance is highly amusing. They can also have assorted treats and cookies (atop their crate). They don’t get goodies very often but you are welcome to spoil them.

Ani and Dylan get fed at night, usually after the dogs get put in their crate. We feed them on top of their kitty tree so the dogs to munch their food. Fill their bowl to the top (but not overflowing).  Dylan will try to convince you that is not enough. But it is. Really. But if his mind control works, you’ll find wet food in the kitchen cabinet marked Pet Food.

As for water, all of the pets drink out of the bowl in the living room. Zoe is a sloppy drinker, sometimes needing a mop up after. Bear shouldn’t drink 1.5hours before his bedtime (usually between 10-11pm). If the dogs drink a lot of water after playing, they will barf it up so if it seems like someone (usually Zoe) is drinking a lot of water in one sitting, it is usually prudent to ask her to sit down and take a breath. Which she’ll ignore (she’s a beagle) so usually we tie her to a table or something. Bear will often cough or quack like a goose when he drinks. Don’t worry about it.

Activities

The dogs spend a fair amount of time tied to or encaged in the furniture. We often shut the doors to the living room or tuck their leashes in the coffee table drawers so they don’t roam the house. They’d like to eat trash and cat poo. They do the latter in the backyard and we pretend not to notice. If you are home, the backyard is a fine place to let them hang out as long as they don’t start barking a lot. Do feel free to kick them off a lounge chair and hang out yourself. The umbrellas are easy to work. Zoe may bring you a tennis ball, she can have about 4 throws before she starts to get too into it and injures herself. Just throw it into the cypress tree or tuck it inside when she isn’t looking. She’ll keep searching for it but that will make her tired, not hurt, so it is ok.

If you aren’t home and it is daytime, feel free to put them in their kennel. As you can see, it isn’t exactly a hardship. Zoe knows the word kennel (of course, she’s a beagle so knowing what you want and doing it really aren’t the same for her). But she likes it and will usually happily go in. There are bowls for water in there.

The dogs also go for walks, we usually take a left from our driveway and walk around the block (not crossing the streets). They both wear halters to walk. Zoe is not the best walker, she would like to sniff everything but if you are moving, so will she. Bear usually only stops if he wants to do something. Baggies are atop their crate. Two or three of these round-the-blocks spaced out through the a day is enough to keep them sleeping for the most part, especially if there is a lounge chair involved.

Finally, Zoe and Bear will play fight but we’ve never seen them really fight. You can tell they are playing by the tails and the fact that Zoe lies on the ground so Bear has better leverage.

Sleeping

Bear and Zoe would like to sleep with you. If you opt to sleep on the couch, that is fine with us (I’ve slept on the couch plenty of times, it is pretty comfy but so is the bed). If you opt to sleep in bed, well, then they get to sleep in their crate. They sleep together in there. Bear sometimes wakes up and barks. On the crate door are the bark collars for both of them. You can put Bear’s on him before you go to bed. He seems to go through spurts where he’ll wake up early and bark so I tend to leave it off, groggily put it on at 4am and then make him sleep in it for a couple days. Extra batteries and spray are atop the crate. Leaving the bark collars on the crate door does provide some level of deterrent though I often forget to turn them on.

Zoe wears her normal collar to bed but Bear sleeps in the buff (his halter will give him mats).

Bathroom

The kitty litter is in the front bathroom. It is scoop litter, nothing special. The black bin is for trash so it goes there. The grey bin is for recyclables.

Both dogs will let you know when they need to potty by wandering around a lot or getting hyper. Bear will scritch at the door. He hasn’t had an accident in a long, long time but since he was the last one to have one, well, he’ll always live with the stigma.

Medical issues

Bear will often shiver. The shivering is not a sign that he’s cold. Or scared. It is all about manipulating his way into your lap.

Bear sometimes skips when he walks (his back leg). If he’s doing it a lot, cut back on the walks. (Or if Zoe is limping.) Zoe tends to get too excited and hurt her shoulder, back, or tail. (She actually had a bad sprain due to wagging too hard, oh to be a dog!) If she’s heavily limping, give her an anti-inflammatory pill (Previcox). There is a green container in the Pet Food kitchen cupboard along with liver snack pouches. But you shouldn’t need these.

The dogs clean bill of health is on the fridge.

Dylan’s nose is occasionally snotty and he’s not great at grooming himself.

Commands and personality

Zoe is very smart and kind of tricksy. She’ll sneak out of a room to go back and get a snack. She understand object permanence and kind of enjoys puzzles (beef jerky in boxes taped closed).

While she’s gotten better at it, especially if you make a show of giving Bear a treat, Zoe does not usually come when called. Don’t let her off leash. If she escapes, take a yummy treat, show it to her and then run into an enclosed area. It is like a game of tag… if you are “it”, she’ll run from you. But if you convince her that she’s “it”, she’ll run toward you.

Bear is not very smart. He’s relied on his cuteness too much.

The house

You’ve got keys to the back door and front (or will soon). We talked about alarms and neighbors.

I showed you the TV remote, mostly push help if it didn’t do what you want. And open the cabinet doors so the remote can talk to the receiver.

The thermostat is on in the dining area.

I put new sheets on top of the bed and there is another set in a box under the bed. There is a plant in the master bedroom which I thought was a miraculous no-water-needing plant but apparently C waters it every few days.

I’ve put post-it notes on the Pet Food, Forks, Cups and Plates cupboards. We usually put trash under the sink and recyclables in the blue bin. Zoe would love to eat people food. You give a dog bacon once in her life and she’s sure that is all you ever eat.

The WiFi password is on the fridge with the dog’s vet info.

If something goes wrong

You have our phone numbers and my mother-in-law’s. Email or text is easy, do feel free to send us pics of the pets.

There is some cash on the dining table in case we forgot to buy enough food or what not.

If things aren’t working out, take them to Paws Crossing at 901 Dell Avenue, Campbell. Get them a shared room and give us a call.

In case of emergency, take them to Kirkwood Animal Hospital, in the same shopping center as Starbucks and Nob Hill. They are under White. The vet’s number is (408) 374-5850.