Dog Sitting

We are pet sitting my Mother-in-law's dog Minnie currently. She is a Jindo that my Mother-in-law adopted from a shelter last year and she is still a young dog. (I think under two years old? I get Teenager energy from her.) It's very interesting having another dog in the mix here. Emma is very calm and submissive where Minnie is very aggressive and strong. We have been having to spend a lot of time keeping our energy calm and doing simple things like walking slower and not gesturing as much and just really keeping the state of energy in the house very low and mellow.

The first couple days of her visit I had a hard time doing anything other than being with the dogs. Emma is my girl and she is territorial over me, so of course Minnie wanted to take that and would nudge Emma out of the way when I was petting Emma and would just sort of be on me. This caused Emma to Hump Minnie in a show of territory. So there was a day or two of figuring out the pecking order around here.

Now that the circus has settled down things are much more mellow. The cat is out of hiding under the table and is hanging out in her Kitty Tree in the front window. We have figured out how to handle the feeding time and the outside time to keep the energy good. Yesterday Tom took Minnie out of the house for an hour so I could do my Zumba in peace. That is very high energy and frantic and I think something to avoid doing with this dog around.

I am really pleased with how smart Minnie is. I was making a sandwich yesterday and Minnie was under my feet in the kitchen. (Movement of the Human female AND food smell - hard to resist!) So I kept telling her to leave the kitchen. Every time she came in I would stop and back her out and tell her no. This morning when I went to make breakfast she came to the threshold of the kitchen and looked at me. I shook my head no and then went back to cooking. When I turned around again she was laying on the floor next to the entry of the kitchen. So smart!

It's very interesting having a different animal here. I am enjoying this but I also look forward to having the natural order of our household restored!