I made this little bio about Bird & Hippo's day to day, to help future dog sitters.
Excuse me, Hippo was kind enough to type out his thoughts. So in case you find yourself curious about their needs and wants and loves, here it is. Hippo asked me to share it with everyone.
Our Daily Life
by Hippo
Hello
new friends! We’re sad our parents are gone, but I’m sure we’re going to love
you so much!
When you first get here… mom and dad usually wake up
and let us out between 8 or 9am. We can get up earlier if you need us to. Birdie
may be skiddish and run from you at first (she’s a skeptic like that) and
possibly even nip at you until she wants to see you herself … but as for me, I
already know you’re going to be my BFF. That’s why I will jump on you and hump
you. This is how I let you know I AM SO HAPPY YOU’RE HERE! My mudder usually
gets REALLY mad at me for this and yells DOWN, or NO JUMPING and
spanks me and stuff, but that doesn’t really bother me. I am just too excited
to stop! Once Birdie realizes how awesome you are, she will probably pee out of
excitement when you first get here, so be sure to pet her in the yard… she
usually does this when you first pet her. This happens any time of the day as
well, so beware! So be sure to call her outside to greet you and pet her lots
outside, to get her tinkles out. I just know this is what mudder &
fodder do.
When we get let out in the morning… mom and dad tell us “go
potty!” and then go inside and close the door, otherwise we’ll just want to
get pet forever. We love getting pet.
Food time is next… When we’re pottying, that’s
when mudder usually gets us breakfast (which is usually our whole day’s meal). She
scoops 1 heaping scoop for Birdie, and 5 scoops for me! Then we should be
done with pottying, and brought back inside.
Whenever
we come back inside, I actually need you
to do me a favor… when I poop, I actually need you to wipe my tail for me. I
guess it gets dirty under the bottom of my tiny tail nubb. Mom usually asks me
“Hippo, you need a wipe?” And I’m usually pretty good at coming to you
to let you do it. I’m sorry about this, I would wipe myself if I could. I
actually really like it when you do it. I start licking and stuff, because it
feels good. I appreciate the help. Mom just doesn’t want poop rubbed in the
house when I sit.
Back to the food.... Mom usually asks us “are
you hungry!?” and we get pretty excited. She usually sets Birdie’s bowl
away from mine by the rug/refrigerator. She likes to sit on the rug when she
eats, and to be away from me so I don’t steal her food. And then mudder sets
mine by the oven. I’m a good boy and won’t touch it though until you say “OK,
go Hippo!” I love my food too much that Mom had to teach me to wait. If our
container has run out, they keep the bag of food in the garage by the door. I
try to sneak in there to get it, so don’t let me follow you in! Once we start
eating, that’s usually when mudder leaves to take the fodder to work. They lock
us inside, and don’t come back for a few hours. This is normal for us, so we
shouldn’t worry too much if we don’t see you until the afternoon!
When you come back in the middle of the day… We usually just want some
love, and a walk if you have the time. If not, just some play time in the yard
is fun, too. I REALLY love when you play tug of war, or fetch with me with one
of my toys, ESPECIALLY my broom. If you ask me “do you wanna play broom?!”
I’ll usually go kinda nuts! I’ll kick your butt at keep away, just you wait.
If we go on a walk… I will pull you the whole
way! …I LOVE to try to go faster! Mudder usually tells me “Hippo, no running!”
and tugs the leash a bit. Sometimes this makes me want to slow down a little,
but most of the time I still just want to GO! And amazingly enough when mom
says to “stay” when we get to street corners to wait for cars, I stop.
This makes mudder really happy. We usually do a circle around 3 or 4 blocks. Oh,
and Birdie usually goes potty when we walk, so mom brings a plastic bag (which
I guess she put with our leashes on the shelf. Mine is the leather one, and
Bird’s is the black little adjustable one. And, I’m sorry if we see people on
our walk. You might have to pull really tight and brace yourself and ask me to
keep going, “come on Hippo” because I just want to see them so bad!
When we come back from a walk, or before you
leave again in the afternoon… you can leave us outside if the weather is nice. We
really love lying in the sun so much, and barking at the squirrels in the
trees, and neighbors in the street. Mom gets a little mad at me for barking so
much and usually tells me “no barking” if I start to go crazy along the
fence, but we should be ok for a few hours until you come back in the night to
put us to bed.
Before it gets dark… we need to go inside.
Birdie gets cold outside if the sun goes away (unless it was a really hot day,
then she’ll probably be fine longer). We probably already went potty by now, so
after some more play time, and a bum wipe, we’ll be good to go back inside for
the night.
At bedtime… I usually crawl into my cage and sleep
there, but might sleep with Bird on the sofa. We might sleep upstairs by the
bedroom door, because we’re a little confused where mudder and fodder are, but
who knows. Bird usually sleeps with them in their bed (not fair), so she might
be the most confused. She’ll probably just fall asleep though under the
blankets on the sofa. She wants to stay warm. If you guys have a sleep over,
you can close my cage door so I don’t get out, and I’ll sleep just fine. And
Bird will want to sleep with you on the bed, under the covers. She likes to be
in the middle. (:
And
we’ll be happy and ready to see you the next day! Whenever mom leaves she asks
us to “go lay down” and points to the sofa for Bird. I usually don’t
listen to that garbage. If you want me to not try to leave with you, just ask
me to Sit, and Stay. I’m usually pretty good at that. And we know
what it means when you tell us “goodbye.”
And
that’s usually how our day goes. We like it that way, but if you ever want to
take us to the park or anything, we love that, too! The clam shell in the yard
is our water dish, and if you don’t mind refilling it (and the dish inside) and
watering some of the plants too, I know mudder would love it!
The
parents don’t let us in their bedroom or in the bathroom when they’re gone, so they usually keep
those doors closed, unless they’re home and using them. We really like to
get into their laundry and trash and stuff. It’s so fun, but mom gets so mad!
So we’re only allowed to roam the main part of the house.
If we’re ever naughty… or need a timeout, or you
need me to be kept away from a kiddo… just put me in my cage. We know the words
“that’s bad!” or “bad, Hippo!” and we both know “IN YOUR CAGE!”,
although we don’t always go willingly. You can put Birdie in my cage too if she
ever needs it, but she usually doesn’t get in trouble, or overwhelming like I
do.
If it’s raining… just keep us inside all day
after we get let out for potty breaks and on a possible walk. Birdie HATES the
rain, so you might have to force her outside by setting her out there. And we’ll
both need our paws wiped off before we come back in, since they’ll be muddy
(we expect this so we usually don’t put up a fight).
If we need a vet… we’ve never been to one in
the area, but if an emergency happens, or you think something is wrong.. Mudder
put some coupons to some local places in the paper sorter that’s hung by the
front door. I’m sure anywhere would work just great.
If you need to take us anywhere… we know what a car ride is,
and if you ask us, “wanna go for a car ride?!” we'll bolt to the car and nearly pee ourselves in excitement!
Thanks for all your help. We're so excited to party with you!
Love,
Hips
