The Mr. and I were walking our dogs yesterday and he mentioned that he told a co-worker that we hired a dog-walker. Yes, we're yuppies. We hired a dog walker! Stop judging us.
Actually, it was Katie and Ian that made us feel so bad! Not on purpose - at least I don't think it was intentional. We generally keep our dogs gated in the kitchen while we're at work. We've experimented with letting them roam free around the bottom floor (kitchen, dining and living rooms) but they've always let us down and peed on the carpet. Have you ever tried to get pee out of carpet? It sucks. A lot. We figured gating them in the kitchen still gave them a little play area and their kennel is in there in case they feel they want to take a nap (from all of the playing in the kitchen).
I'm kind of lying when I say that we "gate" them in the kitchen. We actually barricade them in the kitchen. They are only 10 lbs but they are devious! Here is a very bad rendition of what our kitchen looks like when we leave the house:
They've chewed through several dog gates. This one has lasted the longest although we had to supplement the very large hole with a rubbermaid bin lid. And count them - 2 chairs and 1 vacuum cleaner are placed in front to keep them from pushing through. THEY ARE ONLY 10 POUNDS!.
So, because we hired a dog walker (I'll explain why shortly) - we didn't want him to think we made our dogs live in some crazy house so we splurged and bought this from PetSmart last night:
The doorway to the kitchen is 4 feet wide so we needed an extra wide gate. This bitch cost $70 and we put it up last night. It seems super sturdy (albeit a little ugly... but not nearly as bad as what we've been doing). I'll let you know how that works out tomorrow. Today was the first day with this new gate.
Anywho so we hired a dog walker because I'll be in class Tuesday and Wednesday nights until 7:30pm and The Mr. doesn't get home until close to 6. That would be leaving the dogs in the house for 11 hours! That's just cruel. The Mr. found some great company (voted Best in Baltimore!) and they only charge $18/visit. We'll see how this goes but let me tell you... knowing that someone is coming into our home twice a week is incentive to keep my house insanely clean.
So... The Mr.'s co-worker calculated that we spend, with monthly dog health insurance and dogwalking, approximately $3500 a year on our dogs (and this doesn't even include treats, food, etc.). Wow. But its so worth it. :)
2 comments:
luckily my parents take my dog every day--i don't know what i'd do without them. despite our best efforts (inlcuding hiring a private trainer) we can't seem to break her separation anxiety, which results in barking. we are kenneling her when we are gone and my parents can't take her because we can't trust her to not tear something apart (she tore apart a bed we got her and put int he kennel and peed on anything we put in there, although she never pees otherwise). we have her on tranquilizers, etc., too. we didn't sign on for that, but god do we love her anyway. it's ridiculous.
i miss my dog but i am so not responsible enough to have one right now.
speaking of dogs -- did you hear they are making marley and me into a movie?
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