I spent a week with 5 dogs and survived

My Spring Break went to the dogs

By Thea Shaw

Ispent a spring break 2022 with five dogs. I don’t know that I would recommend it, but it did provide some memorable moments. I’ve always enjoyed taking care of animals and I started a side hustle walking dogs in 2019. I decided to download a dog walking app by the name of Wag. I also downloaded another app named Rover. I was all set. I started to get a lot of walking gigs on Wag and even more gigs on Rover. All of this was back home in Washington, D.C. Therefore, I was surprised when I started getting gigs from people here in Florida. Tyson was the first dog I cared for here. He was a French bulldog and to be honest, I don't think I'll ever forget him. He left a mark … literally. When Tyson arrived, the first thing he did was pee on the floor of my living room. Tyson stayed with me for four days before his owners came to get him. During that time, he scratched a hole in my balcony door frame. He bullied my dog Bruce and he barked whenever he didn't get his way. He was truly a small dog with a big personality. Kilo was the next dog I looked after. Kilo was a Rottweiler. To be honest, Rottweilers can be intimidating at times, but this Rottweiler was one of the friendliest dogs I've ever met. He was cool, calm, and collected. He spent the majority of his days sleeping and lazing around. He liked having his butt rubbed.(Pet owners will know what I am talking about.) What I liked about Kilo was that he didn't have to walk on a leash. But I live in a student apartment, and I didn't think anyone would want to see a big Rottweiler off-leash. So, we did it the right way. Tanzy was the third dog I cared for during that break. Her arrival meant I suddenly had three large dogs. Tanzy was a very active dog. She enjoyed interacting with my dog and Kilo. At the same time Tanzy suffered from separation anxiety, so I didn't leave the house that day because it was raining. Besides, I didn't have a car anyway if I wanted to leave. The other dogs were frequently irritated by Tanzy, so I decided to separate them. Mars was the last dog I was hired to pet sit and the smallest. Mars was a 5-month-old Yorkie- Maltese mix. I enjoyed Mars’s company. He was a wonderful dog. But he, too, left his mark. I had to dash to the store, leaving Mars in my room. I returned home to find a huge hole in my carpet. Mars, it turned out, had attempted to dig beneath my bedroom door. What baffled me the most was that I preferred Mars in his cage. In retrospect, it’s probably best that I take a break from sitting dogs because when I move out of my apartment I know I’m going to have a bill to go along with these memories.