Introducing Ms. R!
I’ve spent time with Ms. R. before but never lived in. Again, her dad was a friend of a friend. She is as beautiful as she looks.
She lives not far from DC1 so for the first few days of her family’s vacation, I was living at DC1’s house and I would visit Ms. R. regularly, making sure she had her outdoor time and, of course, treats. This sort of set-up would never work usually but Ms. R’s dad knew the situation and probably more importantly, he knew me, so was ok with Ms. R spending her first few nights alone as long as I promised to visit. To reassure him, I made sure I WhatsApp-ed photos daily.
The proximity of the sits also made the move so much easier. I took a bunch of stuff over before I moved and that made the job so much easier on the housekeeper on move out day at the DC1 house.
Once I was full-time with Ms. R, I got to know her so much better than my previous drop-in agreement. She warmed up to me quickly. I’d love to say it’s because she remembered that I was so wonderful, but probably she was a little lonely and appreciated the company.
Ms. R is food-motivated. Please don’t nod knowingly when looking at her pic – most of that bulk really is fur! However! I must say it was pretty funny watching her food drop in the auto-feeder and she literally bolted from wherever she was! Great ears if she was outside, I would have been run over if I had been in the way, and if she was inside, I’m sure she heard the feeder thinking it was drop times because she’d be there a split second before her meal.
We did have one small disagreement. She had been out for her morning walk-about as I was on the couch with my coffee. She came in and I instantly thought she was sneaking by. That’s when I saw the tail hanging out of her mouth. I had no idea what shape the critter was in but I did know I didn’t want it in the house.
I grabbed Ms. R by the shoulders and then grabbed the tail of the wee mouse clamped between her jaws. It’s not a tug-of-war I want to describe here but Ms. R did finally let go of it. It was still alive and ran into the first dark place it could find: under her chest. This left me in a pickle as if I let go of Ms. R the mouse could run free and I didn’t want that! Holding Ms. R down I managed to grab Mousey by the tail again but as I tried to whip it away from the predator, she was faster than me and grabbed the thing again. I’m not sure the mouse was alive by the time I got it out of her mouth again, but I did, tossed it outside (that probably killed it if her sharp teeth hadn’t already) and locked us both inside. Ms. R wasn’t allowed out again for the rest of the day!
Of course, I had to go wash my hands. again. and again. and again. Still couldn’t touch food with my hands after my shower!
The rest of our cohabitation went well. She chose not to sleep with me but, by 5:30-6:00 AM every morning, was sprinting up and down the hall and kick-boxing with the bedroom doors at either end of said hall. Animals each have their own way.
Again, I’d never suggest that a pet-sitter run two sits at once. In this particular case, they were literally a block and a bit away from each other and I was completely transparent with Ms. R’s dad and he agreed to the set-up.
