Petsitting a Pomeranian

Cute but cantankerous.

I've started reading Designing Your Life: How to Build a Well-Lived, Joyful Life, by Bill Burnett, which is about getting unstuck and changing your path forward (or at least that's what I think it's about after reading only a few chapters). The earlier chapters talk about prototyping your ideas--trying them out on a small scale with limited commitment before going all in.

Makes sense, right?

If you're an associate in a law firm interested in moving in-house, a secondment with a client prototypes the idea.

If you're contemplating early retirement, an extended staycation prototypes the idea.

Or, in my case, if you're spending a little too much time wistfully perusing #maltipoosofinstagram, a few petsitting gigs prototypes the idea.

I logged on to Rover, created an account, and quickly booked three petsitting gigs: one shih tzu, one pomeranian, and one maltipoo (YES!).

Y'all, this gig is not for the faint of heart.

I found that pet parents leave out the most important details, for example:

• my dog is on anti-anxiety medications and has severe separation anxiety
• my dog doesn't respond to his own name, but will come running if you yell "TREATS!!!"
• my dog will fight you to the death if you try to clean up after him because we regularly allow him to feast on his own poop

The list goes on.

I learned that maltipoos are every bit as precious as I'd hoped, but that it's not the right time for me to add a puppy to the family. I'd known the worry of leaving a dog at home during a thunderstorm, cleaning up accidents, and encountering aggressive dogs while out on a walk with your own tiny dog for nearly two decades earlier in life, but the memories had faded. 

I love dogs, but think I'd like to wait until retirement to bring a puppy home.

Prototyping works.