# Houseguest



## susieg (Aug 28, 2009)

I'm doggysitting my neighbor's dog Bailey until Saturday. Bailey is a chihuahua-terrier mix and is Lola's best friend in the neighborhood. Its my first time having two dogs in the house & is definitely more challenging than one, especially b/c Lola is still a hyper 9 month old puppy! 

At first Bailey whined & scratched at the door after her daddy dropped her off, but she seems to be settled in now. She's been over here for playdates, but never without her owner. I feel bad b/c she seems like she wants to eat, but when I put her food down, Lola goes crazy for it and won't let her eat. Its wet food which probably seems waaaay better than Lola's dry kibble. I tried leaving Lola outside to let Bailey eat, but Bailey gets distracted by Lola scratching on the door to come in and won't eat. She keeps sniffing around where I keep the food, poor girl is hungry. Maybe it will be easier when they settle down. Lola knows "sit" and "stay"....but is not obedient enough to sit/stay when there's another dog eating something tasty in front of her. Guess I need to work on that!

When I attempted to walk them, I was so distracted with Lola trying to play with Bailey and Bailey trying to pull me to her house next door that I didn't realize if Lola peed or not. They both pooped at the same time and were pulling me in opposite directions which made poop clean up hard! This is definitely a good test to see if I could handle another dog. It would definitely be easier if I had a yard and wasn't in a condo. So far, one dog seems much easier! I'll try to post some pictures soon. They've been playing almost all morning with the exception of one short nap earlier.


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## SMARTY (Apr 19, 2007)

Relax and enjoy. You many want to take Lola to another part of the house while Bailey eats or put him in another room. 2 dogs are twice the work and twice the fun.


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## mckennasedona (Feb 20, 2007)

I'll bet they are cute playing together. 
I agree with putting Lola in another room so Bailey can eat in peace. If she won't eat you might try hand feeding her for a bit just to make sure she gets something down.j If they can't settle down on their walks together you could walk them separately to make sure each one does what they are supposed to do. It takes a bit of getting used to, but once you have the hang of it and a routine established, having two isn't really much more difficult than having one.


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## Amy R. (Jul 1, 2007)

Well, this sounds cute & a bit comical to me. ;-) Yes, it's a good intro to having two~~one does something, the other won't, etc. I'm constantly getting tangled in leashes when I walk my dogs. Have fun, I bet Bailey will settle in & it will all be running smoothly by the time the visit is over.


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## susieg (Aug 28, 2009)

The girls have been great today! They've played almost non-stop all day....Bailey is around 1 or so, so she's still a puppy too. They're finally napping now, but have been up and at it most of the day. I was able to take them for a nice long walk, once I got the hang of it, it really wasn't so hard. Lola was a good girl when I gave Bailey dinner. I smushed a teeny, tiny bit of the wet food in with Lola's dry and that seemed to make her happy enough to eat her boring kibble and let Bailey eat her delicious meal  I had to put some of Bailey's food on the floor and give her a few of Lola's kibble to get her to eat. I feel better that she ate....don't want any of my houseguests to go hungry!

Bailey seems happy and relaxed now and isn't whining at the door. When we go for a walk she still tries to walk to her house, but isn't too stubborn when I tug her leash a little to keep walking.

So...maybe two dogs isn't as hard as I thought! Lola seems to be so happy to have someone to play with other than me. And isn't driving me crazy by bringing me her ball to throw every minute!

Here's a pic of the two on the sofa. They were cuddling so nicely, but got up when I got my phone to take the pic.

Hopefully they'll conk out tonight! Lola sleeps in a crate and Bailey sleeps in a bed, so I'll try out Lola in her crate and Bailey in our bed to see if that works. If Lola gets fussy, I'll see if both pups in the bed works better.


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## kloie's mom (Feb 27, 2010)

very cute picture. Looks like they are very happy


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## marb42 (Oct 19, 2008)

What a cute pic and what a great way to test how Lola would do with another puppy.


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## Sheri (Oct 11, 2008)

Sounds like you may be looking for a second dog in the near future... :biggrin1:


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## susieg (Aug 28, 2009)

I would love another doggie!! Especially another hav! We'll have to wait and see what the future holds  

Finally....they're sleeping! (not the greatest pic b/c from my phone)


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## Brady's mom (Dec 1, 2006)

i am glad to hear that things are going well with your houseguest. They look so sweet sleeping together. Having two is definitely easier in some ways, and harder in others. Enjoy the company!


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## susieg (Aug 28, 2009)

I left the girls alone for about an hour & a half today. Yesterday I tried leaving them for 5 minutes, then again for about 30 and they were fine. Didn't hear any barking so I figured I could leave for a little longer today. Guess I was wrong b/c I came home to a big pee stain on my cream colored sofa. The sofa is dirty and needs to be cleaned anyways, but I still didn't want a pee stain on it  

I'm more upset that I will never know who did it than I am about the sofa. I have a hard time believing it was Lola. She hasn't had any potty accidents in longer than I can remember and has never peed on the furniture except one incident when she was a tiny puppy. And when I came home, Lola was by the door and Bailey came running from the direction of the sofa. There were little paw prints of pee across the cushions that look more like Bailey's chihuahua paws than Lola's fluffy ones. They were really defined, I think fluffy paws would have made more of a smudge. And, when I let them out after I got home, Lola took a long pee Bailey only peed for a second. 

All signs are pointing to Bailey....but maybe I just don't want to think that Lola would do that. She is crated when I leave, b/c she barks at the front door if she's not crated. I've only been crating her for the past several months to help with her SA. Before she was crated, she didn't pee when left alone, only barked. Since Bailey's here, I let Lola have free run with her b/c I didn't want to crate her and leave Bailey free. She doesn't seem to bark when another dog is around. I don't crate her when I stay at my parents b/c they have a dog that keeps her company. She doesn't pee there. And another point....before I started crating her, she seemed to just wait by the door for me, I don't think she would jump up on the sofa.

Grrrrr.....I just had to vent! Guess I'll never know....


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## Brady's mom (Dec 1, 2006)

OH NO. That is such a ashame. I am sorry you had to come home to that. I have a cat with potty issues. I can't prove which cat it is, but I know with 99% certainly which cat it is. I always say I need to do DNA testing to be sure. Hope it comes out of the couch okay. You may want to put up babygates in the kitchen or something so they can't get to carpet or furniture while you are out.


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## Jill in Mich (Feb 24, 2008)

Definitely one of the problems with having two - most of the time I'm not sure who the culprit is and they always blame the other.


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