Now that Nikki Newbrough has moved to a dayside shift at KWWL (9 to 6), it’s gotten a little trickier to coordinate our schedules for a doggy playdate. When Nikki worked mornings, it worked well for her to come to my house in the afternoon on the weekdays I have off.
So this week I offered to watch Oscar on one of my days off while she was at work.
Oscar came to our house at 8:45 in the morning and left about 5:30 that evening.
What a day! I’ll admit I was wondering how I was going to handle being outnumbered three to one all day, but I had so much fun watching the dogs interact.
Teddy and Oscar were actually brought in to the shelter together. Nikki and her husband adopted Oscar, and I adopted Teddy. It’s so great to have the littermates so close, and for us to give them opportunities to play together.
Teddy and Oscar are mixed breeds, mainly Shih Tzu and Shetland Sheepdog. (We know this from a DNA test).
I loved seeing the dogs together and noticing similarities and differences.
For differences, Oscar is a little longer in the body while Teddy is a little taller. Oscar has more black fur while Teddy has more lightbrown fur. Oscar has the longer face of a Shetland Sheepdog while Teddy has the shorter face of a Shih Tzu.
For similarities, both have white legs and paws with a little white patch of fur on the back of their necks. They have identical tails. Both love to leap off stuff and “hop” as I like to call it. Their barks are identical. Both love ripping up napkins or paper towels, and they both make this noise that I liken to a human’s sigh.
As soon as Oscar arrived, all three dogs began running around the backyard. They didn’t stop running for five hours! Around 2 p.m. Cubbie was exhausted. I was actually impressed how well he (at age 7) kept up with the two, one-year-old pups.
By 2, Cubbie was ready for a nap. He crashed on the chair, and Oscar and Teddy continued to play a little longer. They were chasing each other, playing tug-of-war with a toy and hiding from each other underneath the love seat. Around 2:30 Oscar and Teddy seemed to be losing steam. They both jumped on the couch and relaxed.
Then Oscar went over to the love seat and each dog fell asleep on a different piece of furniture: the chair, the couch and the love seat.
Oscar and Teddy didn’t sleep long. Around 3:15-3:30 they were up and ready to play again.
About 4 p.m. I thought I’d try taking the dogs on a walk. Thank goodness I have one leash that branches into two for Cubbie and Teddy. If I’d had to control three separate leashes, it wouldn’t have been pretty. I put Cubbie and Teddy’s leash in one hand and had Oscar’s leash in the other. The walk went surprisingly well, even though I was outnumbered 12 legs to two.
When we got back to the house, the dogs ran around in the yard a little longer and then fell asleep on the couch for about 15 minutes before Nikki got off work and came to pick up Oscar.
Even though I was a little unsure how the day would go, it ended up being so much fun for me to watch all three dogs playing. They all got along great. I could tell Teddy and Oscar have a special bond, and I’m glad they still get a chance to be buddies!
As soon as Oscar walked out the door, Cubbie and Teddy crashed. They were literally in bed before 9 p.m.
I’d call it a very successful and fun playdate!