Starbuck's first day as a babysitter!

This story begins with the fact that I am a recent college grad with the same job I had as a student-- babysitter. I've worked for one family for a year and a half and love them to pieces. There are two little girls and I alternate with both. Starbuck's daddy and I have been able to make it so someone is home every 4 hours to let her potty and play with her... until this week. He's out of town for a week and a half. What's a mommy of a puppy to do? Take her puppy to work! (this is where Starbuck jumps in)

So, luckily my family has a dog and loves dogs but for the moment the dog and dad have moved out of state (by means of the air force- the rest of the family is following soon.) They graciously offered that I could bring Starbuck with me. Now, their dog is about 4 years old, amazingly calm, great with their girls, and really an awesome family dog. The girls love Henry to pieces and find his lickies necessary for daily living. Starbuck, on the other hand, is a 16 week old puppy. She's loved kids that she's met, and she'd met these kids-- but that was the first day I got her. Needless to say, I was nervous how she would react to a day with a one year old. She was a rock star!

She let the baby poke and prod her, and all she did was give lots of kissies. The baby loved chasing after us in her walker and watching me do tricks with Starbuck. Starbuck loved giving the kissies and all of the food that dropped for the baby's hands during lunch and snack. haha The cutest thing was that while the baby was napping, Starbuck was desperate to get into her room to make she was okay. I explained to her that the baby monitor would tell us if anything was wrong, but of course that wasn't good enough for her. She was totally exhausted, after not having any of her naps, and slept the whole hour home... and two hours after that.

She was a great babysitter and will be coming back with me all week.

I know there have recent posts about kids and corgis... if you keep your corgi away from kids because you're afraid of what will happen, they won't become familiar with kids and it won't be a positive experience when they do meet. However, I think letting Starbuck play with all types of people has really benefited her. ...Now if only she weren't deathly afraid of other dogs' barks... hopefully puppy kindergarten will cure that!

0 members like this

< Previous Post

Comment

You need to be a member of MyCorgi.com to add comments!

Join MyCorgi.com

Comment by Bev Levy on July 29, 2009 at 8:14am: I think corgis are big enough to withstand a little excessive cuddling and social enough to love the attention. Mine were great with my grandkids. I am glad your experience was a good one. As Beth said, just make sure Starbuck is protected. This is a good experience for her too.

Comment by Stephanie, Greg, Starbuck on July 28, 2009 at 10:20pm: Of course. I'll always be right between them while they're playing, and if I turn my back, one of them (the baby) is in my arms. I know neither of them are always perfectly behaved, but they had a really good day playing together.

Comment by Beth on July 28, 2009 at 10:13pm: I'm glad Starbuck had such a good day! I also agree that within reason letting kids poke around at a young dog does help socialize it; I sometimes wonder if dogs get worried about being poked at because when someone pokes, the dog's person gets all nervous and yells to not do that. If you watch dogs with each other, you will see that what we do to them is nothing compared to how rough they are together.

It goes without saying, of course, that no dog should ever be left with a toddler without the closest kind of supervision. Even a "bomb-proof" dog might not tolerate it if a child decides to stuff Legos up its nose. And generally speaking, little kids' faces are right at tooth-level.....