Bruiser and Meow Meow

I am getting to spend some time this week with Bruiser and Meow Meow. It poured outside yesterday and today was cloudy but it didn't rain at all this afternoon. Since it was overcast, I grabbed my camera and went to hang out in their backyard. Bruiser and Meow Meow both were willing subjects although I don't think Meow Meow even noticed the camera. Both were fun to watch. Earlier this morning when I was walking Bruiser as we came back up to the house, his nose caught the scent of something I could tell. He walked over in the grass and there was a dead rat lying there. Smallish for a rat but bigger than your typical mouse. (I'm not an expert in rodents so that is my best description.) I am guessing that Meow Meow had some fun at the rat's expense. I am hoping that nature takes its course tonight and some owl swoops down and takes off with the rat.

Dog Walking and Robbers

I never thought when I got into this business and I'd write a blog about dog walking and robbers but I am. This was my afternoon starting around 1pm. I drove through the neighborhood next to mine after leaving one job and on my way to the next house. I drove by a house with 4 police cars parked around it. The house had a privacy fence and I immediately assumed someone tried to break in. The police helicopter was flying over too. I had just let two dogs out in the backyard of a house about 1/4 mile from this house. I went onto my next job which was several miles away all the while wondering if I should go home and just check on things. Everything was fine at my house thank God but there was a lot of excitement and drama in my neighborhood around 2:15pm when I got home. Several police cars were in my neighborhood.

Apparently the 2 suspects that had tried to break into the house around 1pm took off running and came into my neighborhood. We have a lot (criminals hear this: stay out of my neighbhorhood. We have A LOT) of people who work from home in my neighborhood. One of the men in my neighborhood saw a guy running through his next door neighbor's backyard. He texted that neighbor and asked if he had anyone doing work in his backyard. The response was no so they called the police.

I don't have all of the details of how both guys were caught but one was found in the crawl space of another neighbor's house. Apparently that is a common place for them to hide.

Everyone be safe and be diligent. Keep your eyes open for unusual activity around you - suspicious people, suspicious cars, etc. Because my neighbor was diligent, these two criminals have been caught.

I would prefer to never write another post entitled dog walking and robbers.

Happy 6th Anniversary to See Spot Run!!

Yesterday I celebrated my 6th anniversary of walking dogs. My first dog walk at See Spot Run was with a golden retriever named Mojo 6 years ago yesterday. I can't believe it was 6 years ago. Time has flown by and I'm still loving every day that I get to do what I love for a living and I'm so thankful. Unfortunately because of my busy schedule over this holiday weekend, Don and I were not able to enjoy Easter Sunday sunrise service. I am home now Sunday morning and I have my piano (that has a player on it), playing on the spiritual music station. This isn't a station I listen to often but I am enjoying it on this Easter morning. I hope everyone else is having a wonderful, celebratory Easter morning. Happy 6th Anniversary to See Spot Run and Happy Easter to all!

Here are a few pictures from the pets I've been seeing over the weekend. I had my camera along with me yesterday afternoon so some of the dogs and cats I'm seeing I don't have pictures of b/c it was too dark outside when I saw them or I didn't have my flash with me to take inside photos.

Rocky, Maddie and Cotton - I stopped and picked up new cat food yesterday afternoon although I've not seen any diarrhea in the cat box at all. I switched them still to the new food as of last night though.

Sparky - I wish it would've been light enough outside for me to get some pictures of her!! Unfortunately it was always too dark when I was there. She is doing great and I even got kisses from her this morning. Loved it!!

Special K and Harley - They've both been eating well and Special K is always up for playing after a little breakfast. She chases that light around and goes sliding across the wood floors, makes me laugh every time! Harley just sits back and watches as if to say "kids.... grow up!!" :)

Chloe - Chloe has greeted me every visit. I've been giving her a little bit of wet food every visit so I know she hasn't wanted to sleep though that! She loves it and she's been loving the attention too.

Bella - I was a little later this morning (it was around 7am when I got there) and I still had to wake Bella up. I believe she is like my yellow lab Willow who prefers to sleep in (unlike our choc lab Moose who likes to wake up at 5-5:30am... even on Sunday!) Bella has been eating well and enjoying her outside time.

Ursa and Luna - I left Luna in the front part of the house overnight and this morning since it was so chilly out this morning. I fed them both and both gobbled down their breakfast. They definitely get the clean plate award!

Pet sitting in great Charlotte NC weather

I've been doing a lot of pet sitting lately and the weather has been so great, I've had my camera along. I really wish I could work one on one with another photographer familiar with pet photography (hint hint Deb if you ever read this!! :) ) I also could stand to take a class on Photoshop. My Photoshop skills are very limited although youtube is a great resource for helping me figure it out. I've been pet sitting with Fozzy lately and I've struggled to get a decent picture of her. Her canine brothers Ollie and Sunny provide ample opportunities for photos (see previous posts) but for some reason I've not been able to get a good one of her. She prefers to be inside vs outside so I guess that is the main reason. When I've been taking pics of the dogs, we've been outside mostly. Below is one of the better (perhaps the best) photos of her I've taken.

A couple of weekends ago, I was pet sitting for Rollo. I thought I'd posted this picture before but apparently I hadn't. One of my photography goals is to try and capture clear (non-blurry) action shots. When I look at this picture, immediately Taylor Shift's song "shake it off, shake it off" starts going through my head!

Very recently I was pet sitting for Lola, Howie and Otis. Otis is the old guy of the group and while he was still somewhat spry, his family wanted to bring in a companion for Lola. Enter Howie. He is all puppy. Here are a few things Howie did that made me laugh: practically tipping over when he hikes his leg to pee and racing around the den chasing a cat toy. The way he runs through the grass is pretty funny too. He hops. He was very entertaining!

cat sitting with Chloe

Cat sitting with Chloe is an entertaining gig. She greets me at the door and then flips and flops around on the floor at my feet. I was hoping to have my camera with me today but I went mid-morning and wasn't going back by my house for several hours. It is so cold here (and it snowed this morning!) so I didn't want to leave the camera in the car. I'm not sure freezing temps would be great for the camera. Anyway, Chloe is doing great. She is certainly eating well and she is certainly using her box too!

Wanda and Max

I had the pleasure of filling in for my pet sitter while she took some time off over the holidays so I got to see Wanda and Max. I've pet sat for them before but it has been awhile and it was great to spend some time with them. Wanda is a great little walker (even with her short legs, I had a hard time keeping up with her!) and Max loves his outdoor time too. I was really surprised one morning when it was raining pretty hard but Max still wanted to go outside. He seemed to like being out in the rain more than Wanda and me! Max may have a learned a thing or two from Wanda: he comes when he is called. All I had to say was "Max" or "kitty kitty" and he'd come back to the door, ready to come inside.

One of my favorite things about doing these visits was my greeting from Wanda. When I walked up to her house, I could see her through the windows in the door and she was always in a full body wag... that is quite the greeting and it made my day every time I got to see it. Being privileged to have a job that brings me such gifts as the full body wag is just awesome!!

Happy New Year Wanda and Max!

PS I am going to give a shout out to CCP Web Design. If you like the new look for my website and blog, it was done by CCP Web Design and that is Wanda and Max 's mom.