Cricket needs a job. She has a lot of excess energy, and uses it for barking and biting, and I’d like to find more constructive ways for her to keep busy. Some ideas that have come up in the past are:
· Fitness trainer. She could help anyone build upper body strength and cardio, by pulling like an ox on her leash for three or four miles at a time. She might have a lot of one time customers, though, after an hour with her, I’m not sure we’d get follow up visits.
“Streeeeeeettttch!”
· Assistant dishwasher at a restaurant, pre-cleaning the dishes. Except that any dangerous foods would have to be picked out before she got there, like onions and raisins and chocolate…
Cricket is an expert dishwasher. At least, Butterfly thinks so.
· Ball puppy at a tennis court. Though I wonder if anyone would really want the ball back after she’d been carrying it in her mouth.
· Carnival barker? I don’t think they really mean her sort of barking.
Nothing seemed quite right, and then I started thinking about my brother, the doctor. What if Cricket could do something in his field? I don’t actually believe she could go to medical school (anti-puppy prejudice!), but a hospital would be a fascinating place to work.
Doctor Dog (found online)!
Children in the hospital can get very lonely, especially at night, when their visitors go home and the noise quiets down and they are supposed to be asleep. I know dogs have been invited in during the day, but I think they could be even more helpful at night. I can picture the puppies wearing blue scrubs, and beepers at her necks. Puppies could be called by the nurses when a child had a nightmare and couldn’t get back to sleep, or when parents had to leave at bedtime and knew that the child would be lonely.
The human handlers could bring the dogs in and leave a jar of treats by the child’s bedside table, with a bowl of water the dog could reach.
The job of the human handler would be to be as unobtrusive as possible, but also to know when a child and puppy combination would not be a good match. If the child was angry, at being in the hospital and poked and prodded, and lashed out at the dog, the human handler could remove the dog from harm and prevent the dog from needing to fight back.
The puppy-on-call room would have to have treadmills, and fake grass to pee on, and a water fountain to drink from, one for the big dogs and one for the little dogs. There could be a play circle filled with tennis balls and chew toys, and mats and beds to sleep on between jobs.
The dogs could do rounds earlier in the day, to meet the children currently in the hospital, and help the doctors with sniffing diagnostics, and then the dogs would be on call at night.
But now that I think of it, I’m not sure this would be a great job for Cricket. She’s a bit more of a me-me-me dog, rather than an aching-to-be-of-service-to-others dog. Now Butterfly, she’s a whole other story. But her scrubs would have to be a light pink.
Butterfly is very patient.
And very Zen.
Maybe Cricket could work for the police? Drug sniffing? Recapturing escaped prisoners? She’d be great at catching anyone resembling a leaf or a stick.
Cricket always gets her leaf!
rachelmankowitz 
She looks like a killer dog to me. I’d love to hire her to keep my dog in line.
People, she can control. Other dogs? Not so much.
I bet the list of people she controls has your name at the very top.
Yep.
You could be on to something/ Maybe Cricket could be a therapy dog? The question is does she give or receive therapy?
Maybe after twenty four straight hours of therapy, massage, acupuncture, etc, she could manage about twenty minutes of being nice to someone else. Maybe.
Yikes, Cricket is an intimidator! My giant pitbull/shepherd mix Molly was quite a handful. I nearly gave up walking her, until I discovered the “Halti” leader. I immediately regained my rightful position to leader of the pack.
I’m thinking that I should carry a bag of leaves with me wherever I go; keep her distracted.
Both of your girls are so adorable! I love seeing pics of them. This was a wonderful, funny, and cute post. I enjoyed it a lot!
Thank you so much!
What a cutie!!! 🙂
Thank you!
I want Puppy On Call!
Oooh, house calls!
Reblogged this on Let's Talk About EVERYTHING!!!!!.
Aww. I love the top photo, a mouth full of leaves!
That’s Cricket’s favorite way to be!
Just adorable!
Thank you!
Oh my gosh, that would be an amazing job for dogs, the night time watch dog. Awe!
One thing you can actually do for Cricket is a doggie obstacle course. It really helps with high energy dogs ( or so i’ve read about, my dog is lazy as a cat). I know they have dog training schools that offer those classes but they can be costly. But you can build your own, they sell make shift obstacles courses in pet stores.
I’ve been tempted to get her some obstacle course toys so many times. At this point she just uses the available furniture. She’s very upset that the snow has been melting, because she’s been using it as climbing and digging and jumping toys all winter.
Cute pics and I like “puppy on call” idea. Cricket might like having to work for her food (food puzzles and treat dispensing balls and cubes). It might burn off some of her excess energy and keep her occupied. 🙂
Cute pics and I like “puppy on call” idea. Cricket might like having to work for her food (food puzzles and treat dispensing balls and cubes). It might burn off some of her excess energy and keep her occupied. 🙂
She certainly needs a lot of that today. Oh my. But her idea of working for her food, is standing next to grandma and barking and crying while grandma eats lunch. She is a very focused worker.
All of those jobs sound like fun! I think it is cool that each of your dogs has such a different personality and outlook.
Little Miss Butterfly is so calm and sweet, but Cricket is training her in the ways of the crazy. For example, she now LOVES to bark.
Happy to read your post, as usually nice!!! Alla
Thank you!
Yes, definitely like the “Puppy on Call ” idea.
Thank you!
this was so much fun to read! Poor little Cricket–wearing her mama flat out! I love that last picture of here getting her leaf. That probably sums her up to a T!
Exactly!
You always have the best pictures of the girls, Rachel. Such personality!
They are never boring. And now Butterfly’s face is getting to be as expressive as Cricket’s. Oy. The chicken treats will never be safe again.
Haha poor chicken treats. 😉
Butterfly is a cool shade of pink that’s really lovely. They look so contented , the jobs are a good idea to.
Enjoy your Week. x
I really think Butterfly would enjoy wearing those pink scrubs, and working in the pediatrics department.
Funny one, Rachel. Zen Cricket. Love it. John
Oh Cricket doesn’t believe in Zen, she believes in chaos. Butterfly on the other hand, could teach meditation classes.
Maybe Cricket could get a job as a leaf muncher (multcher, :-)! She sounds like a character, lol!
That would be the best job for her! Maybe I should look for a community garden nearby, or just offer her services to the maintenance men here. She’d be lovely to work with. Maybe.
Too funny!
Thank you!
Dogs seem to me to be very happy when they have something interesting to do. 🙂
And I am happier when that interesting thing is NOT ripping my notebooks to shreds.
🙂
The thought of dogs helping lonely and sick kids sleep just melted me into a puddle.
I saw a picture once of a golden retriever on the lap of a kid at the dentist. It just seems like such a great idea.
Reblogged this on Sean's Ramblings and commented:
A nice read
Rachel, we share a love of animals — me cats (kitties!!) and you dogs. I have had both and love them both but isn’t it interesting how we are more naturally drawn to one or the other.
A spontaneous poem……… when I write poetry not even sure what will come out but it’s almost always there……….
Cats and Dogs
“Wait!!” you say
why not Dogs and Cats?
Who’s the boss here
hard to tell
at least at first
dominance is sorted
behind our backs
a subtle standoff
of power and paw
(not always either subtle
or even a standoff)
One day we notice
someone’s in charge
how did it happen
wasn’t size
I’ve seen huge dogs
walk a wide path
around a hissy cat
likely some claw on the nose
at some unseen moment
I’ve also seen kitties
scamper away
when the king (or queen) trotted in
Go figure
just like us!!
Lovely! Thank you!
Brilliant post, made me laugh out loud 🙂 made me remember something I posted about the dangers of small, bored dogs: http://blinddogblog.wordpress.com/2013/01/26/are-small-dogs-bored-dogs/ What breed is Cricket by the way – she’s adorable!
Cricket is a Cockapoo, a Cocker spaniel mixed with a miniature poodle. And she knows how cute she is, she uses her powers on her grandma constantly!
Tweeted this for you! Are you on Twitter, Rachel?
Thank you! I’m not on twitter. I tried, but all of the hashtags gave me seizures.
Okay, I will tweet for you whenever I visit your blog and cannot find a new post. Hope this helps. 🙂
That’s amazing! Thank you!
I love this! Cricket sounds like she spreads her energy to anyone she meets! Cute job ideas!
Thank you! And yes, a few minutes with Cricket is like a triple espresso.
Hello and Thank you for the follow and This is so cute how about also puppy goes to see Elder Folk in Folks Home? Bring a smile to a lonely Older person and some love:) Have a nice day Love your cuties:)
I’d send Butterfly to visit the elder folk, but Cricket would give them all heart attacks.
Ok 🙂 Sounds cute:) Butterfly report to your new job please:)
Awesome! Especially loved Cricket as a leaf chaser!
She is Olympic level at leaf chasing, except when she face plants into the bushes.
Thank you for taking a look at “Funny Tails” on maijaharrington.com. I’ve just finished reading your blog about Cricket and Butterfly, and I love their stories. Our Sarah (in Funny Tails) also is a me-me-me dog who cleans the dishes just like Cricket does.
It’s fun for me to find another person who enjoys writing about her dogs. I’ll be following your blog
Best wishes,.
Maija Harrington
email maijaharrington@gmail.com
Thank you!
Your dogs are adorable – butterfly looks like a female version of my dog rocco! Great blog, LK
Thank you! I now love your dog by extension!