I’m so excited to announce that I am registered and booked for this April’s BlogPaws conference. I’m really looking forward to meeting other pet bloggers and attending all the event sessions. But one quick confession: I’m not great at big social or networking events. And by “not great” I really mean that I can basically manage standing awkwardly near the food, striking up conversations along the lines of “I love shrimp cocktail” or “Do you think there’s dessert?” Or, if the event is at someone’s house, I tend to corner the host’s dog or cat and spend the evening with him/her. That being said, I am super excited for this event. I can’t wait to mingle with other like-minded pet bloggers and learn lots more about blogging!

In other news, dogsitting Otto turned very, very easy today after the boys had a playdate with our neighbor Cady last night! This is what they’ve been doing up until a few minutes ago(sorry for the blurry cell phone pics):

Lucas in my room

Emmett in the office

And Otto on today's laundry in the hall

Of course, as soon as I started writing about them sleeping all day… all three woke up and are now staring at me! Off to go walk, feed, and play with the boys!

]]> http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/01/blog-paws-and-a-few-dogsitting-pics/feed/ 0 http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/01/adventures-in-dogsitting/ http://ohmydogblog.com/2010/01/adventures-in-dogsitting/#comments Tue, 19 Jan 2010 03:49:40 +0000 Maggie http://ohmydogblog.com/?p=824 Continue reading →]]>

My parents, who live about 90 minutes from us, are on vacation. So for this week, my mom’s little dog Otto is staying with us. Otto is a one-year-old bichon/shih tzu mix with the funniest little underbite. He just adores Lucas, and Lucas loves him, too, though Lucas tends to tire out long before Otto. With the three dogs, it’s a pretty funny dynamic around the house.

Big friend and little friend

Lucas is a trim 75 pounds; Otto is a porky little 12 pounds. Despite their size differences, they play together most of the day, wrestling, tugging, chasing. Lucas is really amazing at self-handicapping.

Although he usually lets Otto win, which has led Otto to think that he’s much, much stronger than he really is.

Emmett… he doesn’t mind Otto, and occasionally he lets on that he might actually like him, but mostly, Emmett is just happy to hang on the sidelines and watch Lucas and Otto duke it out. But I did catch them snuggled up a couple times today!

Otto is a pretty easy dog. He has great recall and is a generally happy fellow. The hard thing, though, is that his set of rules and boundaries are completely different from the rules I have for my guys. It’s difficult to decide whether or not to teach him the rules (i.e. out of the kitchen while I’m cooking) or just let it go for the week. Of course, as soon as Emmett realized Otto is in the kitchen while I’m cooking, he slips right in trying to get away with it, too!

Overall, Otto is doing great. It’s tough for any dog to be away from his people and his home, with all different routines and rules. He settled in pretty much right away, in large part because he worships Emmett and Lucas and just does whatever they do!

He’s here until Saturday, and I’m sure it’ll be an easy week. Although… Lucas will probably sleep for three straight days after Otto leaves!