Dog Sitting

When I was in the sixth grade one of my teachers at Frankfurt (Germany) Elementary #2, Mr. Keys, asked if anyone would like to watch his dog for a week while he went back to the States. Upon learning he was going to pay the tidy sum of $10 for this easy job I promptly volunteered.

Turns out the pup was a nervous, wiry Terrier-like dog that looked a lot like Mr. Keyes – minus the coke bottle glasses, of course. I recall getting up early before school to walk the dog, trying to play with it after school (but it was too nervous and snappy), and then walking it last thing at night to let the dog do his business.

About the third day we were keeping this psychotic hound he practically chewed the legs off a US Government-issue end table. My parents were livid and threatened me saying that if the Quartermaster made us pay for the damage the dog did to the table legs it would certainly amount to more than $10 and, further, the damages were coming out of my pocket.

In the end we did not have to pay for the table, but I never dog-sat again. Ever.