[sniffy face]

I feel like things have gotten way serious around here lately. What's that about??

Anyways.

Last weekend I dog & housesat for a family friend while she and her husband were out of town. I slept at their house and took care of little Moe and Kima, two rescue dogs.

Moe (left) & Kima (right)

Let's start with Kima. Kima's a funny looking little thing. If they made doggy braces, this dog would need a set. Badly. It doesn't help that her bottom teeth always show due to a bad underbite. On top of some messed up teeth, she's got bug eyes, one ear that sticks straight up and one that flops, and a beard. Yup. A beard. It's a different texture and color and everything.

Kima is a living, breathing example of not judging a book by its cover. Born a stray, she's potentially the sweetest and funniest dog I've met in a long time. She just wants loved at the end of the day and is just generally happy to be alive. We had a ton of fun romping around the house, playing fetch, and chasing leaves down the rain-filled gutters.

Watching Prometheus with Kima

Then there's Moe. Moe's spine was broken and his back half was paralyzed for most of his life. He's not fully paralyzed anymore but his back half still doesn't work as well as it should. Although technically a small dog, he's a bit on the heavy side which causes him to wheeze as he awkwardly lopes along. Like Kima, Moe's also got an underbite.

Since the dogs don't have a fenced backyard to run around, it fell to me to walk them every few hours. Once a day we were to take a longer walk of around 15 minutes or so.

That was the theory anyways. I never once got a long walk that was less than 40 minutes. Not once.

We'd set out on our long walk, plastic bag in hand just in case. The thing about Moe is that he doesn't move fast. He's also a sniffer; he has to sniff every single blade of grass he comes across. Sometimes, he'd go face first into the grass to sniff something and then just stay that way. Since he's got a little snub nose, his whole face went completely into the grass. I timed him one time and he stood that way for 2 minutes, sniffing madly.

Why not turn them around you ask?? After all they're small dogs.

If only it were that simple. Remember Moe's injuries?? Whenever I'd tug on his leash he'd awkwardly fall onto his backside and then just look at me with big, hurt eyes. I felt so guilty, convinced I was hurting has back, that I immediately stopped tugging and let him keep sniffing. All the while Kima ran circles around both of us happy to be out of the house. If a jogger ran past though it was all over: Kima would lunge and snarl fiercely, all bit tipping me over in the process. Moe just kept sniffing.

No matter what happened on the walk, Moe never once stopped sniffing. Kima would try and take down a jogger and Moe would sniff. Kima would get tangled around my legs and Moe would sniff. A truck would rumble past and Moe would sniff. Squirrels, children, cars, joggers, and other dogs had no effect on Moe. So we would trundle onwards while Moe sniffed.

Sometimes, without any rhyme or reason, Moe would stop sniffing and take off for home at a loping sideways jog. His back legs would move together and slowly catch up to his front legs. Eventually he'd be completely sideways and be forced to stop and realign himself. The timing of his reverse was always different and the number of bathroom breaks was never the same. We'd head home and Moe would lap up every bit of water in the giant water bowl.

If nothing else, I returned home absolutely convinced that some dogs, like Moe, should have a backyard that they can access at all times. Imagine if Moe had a backyard: he could sniff and sniff and sniff to his heart's content. Of course I had to remind our two dogs, Kammie & Kenley, just how lucky they were to have a fenced backyard and a dog door.

They still don't seem to care.