Dog Sitting - First Full Day

My friend Curtis is out of town for a week and I am taking care of his his dog Mister Peepers while he's away.  Peeps arrived yesterday afternoon and will be staying at the Maisie and Me Inn until next Tuesday night.  Although he and Maisie have had many playdates, they've never been together overnight or for multiple days in a row, so we took some precautions to ensure the comfort and safety of both resident and guest.

First, I asked Curtis to bring over an additional crate.  This has made feeding time much easier, especially because Peeps is highly allergic to everything and there would be very negative consequences if he were to get ahold of Maisie's food or treats.  It will also allow me to leave them crated side-by-side if I go out.

Second, he also brought an extra dog bed so there would be no fighting over the bed in the living room.

Since it is actually Maisie's old bed that we donated to Peeps, Maisie has no problem claiming it for herself!

Mr. Peepers is obsessed with toys and Maisie is not, so he is able to play away with no interest from her.

It helps that my house is large enough to allow each dog plenty of space for alone time.  Maisie relaxed in my bed after her session with the dog runner this morning (which gave her some valuable solo time as well).

While Peepers rested his itchy little body on the futon in the office and kept me company.

When they passed each other in the hallway, they barely even acknowledged each other and went on their respective ways.

They both love antlers so that's about the only thing that causes conflict between the two (other than the uncontrollable desire to hump that sometimes overcomes Peepers), so I am restricting their availability.  Usually I keep multiple antlers laying around for Maisie and I did let both dogs chew freely yesterday, but so far today I have kept them put away.  I was concerned that Maisie would get agitated by another pooch sleeping in bed with us, but she adjusted surprisingly quickly and there were no altercations last night.  I have also been feeding, leashing and treating Maisie first to reinforce her "resident dog" status whenever possible.

So far, so good...six more days to go.  And although Maisie is of course still my #1 pup and remains the cutest dog in town, I cannot deny that Peeps is definitely adding to the adorability factor around here.  Now if only we could do something about his truly toxic farts...

"who, me?"

p.s. for more frequent Maisie (and temporarily, Mr. Peepers!) updates and pics, please "like" our Facebook page if you haven't yet!