Meet Rasputin!

I love the variety of dog sitting assignments I get.  While most owners suggest to me what their dogs need, some dogs have a way of telling me what would really make them happy .  Rasputin is one of those dogs.

Rasy is a 12 year old boxer – towards the end of a boxer’s average life span.  His owner called me because Rasy is lonely now that he has to travel more on business. He’s been a lucky dog, spending the better part of his life going to work with his owner, but is now home alone some days.

The owner asked me if I could come twice a day and just sit with Rasy because he no longer wants to walk and spends his day looking out the window waiting for the return of his hero.  Okay, I thought – that might be a welcome time for me to chill during my busy days walking my more active clients.

The first day I arrived, Rasy was waiting at the door for me and I asked him if he wanted to take a stroll down the driveway.  He answered in the affirmative, although he was surprised by the offer.  As we got going, he started picking up his step into a lovely prance.   Hmmm, I thought – maybe he does want to walk more than the owner thinks…

On the next visit,  Rasy said “Oh good, your back!  I’ve been waiting for another walk.”  He took me for quite a long neighborhood walk, marking everything in sight!  When we returned he went straight to the floor and took a nap.  A few weeks later, I walked him over to my car to meet Maddie & Josie to see if they’d get along.  His ears perked up and he said “Oh, wow – you brought me some young girls!”.  After a very social sniff fest, the four of us went for a long walk with Rasy walking very tall and proud to accompany us.

As we took a break on his lawn one day, I snapped this photo. Isn’t he a fine looking gentleman? I  hope what I bring to Rasputin helps extend his life well beyond what is expected, and that I will be listening to him for a good long time.

Joanne