The Best Things About Having a Dog for 3 Days

I’ve never owned or been responsible for a dog, so I was eager to see what it felt like when a friend asked me to take care of her dog for a few days.

When Jasper arrived at my house on Sunday, he promptly took a dump on the floor. When my friend later learned about this, she was surprised, because Jasper had already taken care of business that morning. Apparently he had one waiting in reserve, just in case.

However, I think that kind of stuff is amusing. I consider Jasper to be a pretty clever dog, and for him to mark his territory so quickly was quite smart.

I keep Biddy’s special diabetic wet food on my kitchen counter, and Jasper figured out how to get up there almost immediately. When I discovered that Biddy’s food had disappeared, I refilled the bowl and called Jasper over to see if it was him. Sure enough, he hopped wright onto the counter, confirming his guilt. I took this photo to prove it:

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The main “annoying” thing about owning a dog appears to be the necessity to take them outside at least 3 times a day to barely pee on a lot of things and maybe poop.

The annoyance is minimized by the sheer level of excitement Jasper exudes when he finds out we’re going outside (or whenever I walk in the direction of the front door for any reason). He can’t contain himself.

I found the outdoor poop ritual to be most amusing, as there’s a lot of pacing back and forth to pick the perfect spot. And sometimes even that spot isn’t good enough, and poop doesn’t happen. That’s when I took this photo:

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The only thing Jasper seemed to be more excited about than going outside was coming back inside and being released from his leash. It is the best thing EVER to him. He does this thing where he slaps his paws on the ground. It’s the embodiment of saying, “We’re playing! We’re really playing!”

I also found it incredibly endearing that Jasper would bring in his toys to show off. But he made it clear that these toys aren’t for me. They are his and his alone, and he is committed to slowly tearing them apart until no one else can have them.

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I was really curious to see how Jasper would interact with my cats, and vice versa. They had met Jasper before, and Walter even lived with him for a few days. Biddy is very distrustful of any other animal (including Walter, who he swears he just met for the first time today…every day), and he stayed away from Jasper.

But Walter doesn’t mind Jasper. I think he thinks Jasper is a black cat, as they have a similar amount of fur. It was nice to see the two of them napping together the other day.

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Jasper was VERY snuggly. If there was ever an opening for him to wiggle into a snuggle, he’d do it. I like snuggly animals, so I’m a fan of that. I also like the distant look he’d get in his eyes when I scratched his belly.

Also, it’s neat to see that despite all of the online debates about whether dogs are better than cats (they’re not), dogs and cats are actually very similar:

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Overall, I had a good experience having a dog for a few days. I wouldn’t want to have a dog on a permanent basis unless I had a yard (and unless Biddy really liked him–Biddy had nervous throw-ups over the last few days. He doesn’t like change), but for a few days it was fine.

Have you ever owned this “dog” creature? Was he or she similar to Jasper?

5 thoughts on “The Best Things About Having a Dog for 3 Days”

  1. We adopted our dog, Claude, about a year and a half ago. He’s an 18 lb poodle mix, just big enough that he’s fun to chase around the yard, but small enough to sit in your lap. He had been a stray before we had him, but we think he had an owner before that. It took us and him a little while to get used to the routine, and get him re-housebroken. But now he’s the best dog ever. Claude reacts the same as Jasper to walks and trips outside, and he often goes into “spin mode” after coming inside. I clean up a lot more vomit than I had ever thought I would need to, but in the end, I forget about it when he climbs into my lap, gives me a kiss on the chin and then curls up for a nap.

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  2. LOL! Jasper the cat dog! Jamey, you missed your chance to do a dog shame. Jasper totally knows he was in trouble in the picture.

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  3. I’ve been away from my two cats for a week and I miss them a lot. This post really cheered me up 🙂 thanks Jamey

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