Nelly Belly

We dog sat my crossing partner and close friend's little Chihuahua Nelly June 7th -13th. I didn't tell the girls that we were going to be dog sitting because I knew I would have to hear the endless questions of when Nelly was going to be coming to our house.  Is it today Mom, all day long would drive me crazy!  So we went to Gymnastics and while the girls were doing there thing I went with Allyson and put Nelly in the car.  After Gymnastics was done and when we got to the car was when I told them about dog sitting.  They were so excited!
A little bit about Nelly: very cute dog, but yippee, and growls all the time.  Nelly loves adults, but has a hard time with young kids....young kids Maddies age.  Allyson warned me that Nelly was like this and was worried for Maddie.  Her daughter Peyton who is maddies age gets growled and nipped at all of the time because she won't leave Nelly alone.  Allyson kept asking if I was sure I was up for this.  Honestly no I wasn't, but 1st she needed help, 2nd I really wanted to help her out, 3rd it would be a great learning experience for the girls, and 4th I was getting paid to do it!
Anyways on the way back home from Gymnastics Nelly growled pretty much the whole way.  I thought oh no this is going to be a long week.  When we got home we set up a place for Nelly to stay.  The girls instantly wanted to hold her and play with her.  Nelly didn't want any of that she growled at them.  I had to explain to them that they needed to be really careful with her.  They needed to gain her trust.  She ended up sitting on Matt's lap while I caught up on yard work.  She didn't want anything to do with the girls, which was hard for them.  When it was time to go to bed I let Nelly outside to do her business, and then put her in our laundry room in her little bed.  Then I went to bed, but was shortly woken up by her shrill whining.  I tried to ignore it, but gave up.  I let her come and sleep in our bed.  Matt had gone back to work, so it was just me.  Nelly instantly went under the covers and down by the back of my legs.  I tried to move her and she growled at me.  I got her anyways and put her up by my pillow, and she instantly tried to go back under the covers.  I was worried that I would roll on top of her, or that she would suffocate. She kept trying, and I gave finally gave in.  It wasn't the greatest nights sleep, and I thought boy this was going to be a long long long week.
Instructions for Nelly: indoor dog.  She is potty trained(bonus). She will start to whine at you when she needs to go do her business.   She eats when she is hungry.  She eats in her bed 3/4 cup dog food a day.  She can go for walks.  She can stay in her purse bag during the day if you want her too.  Put her in it when she is being naughty.  Okay to have her sleep in laundry room, but can sleep with you or your girls if you want, but she moves around a lot, so it's hard to sleep.
It really did turn into a good experience and Nelly actually let the girls hold her...well more kenzie than maddie.  Both girls got nipped at once, but they deserved it.  I'm sorry it happened, I warned them.  They have to learn somehow.  Nelly is not a hard dog at all, but she is like a baby.  She likes you to hold her, when she is not in her bag, or on her bed.  She is a drama queen....hence the growling.  She growls if you touch her wrong, pick her up, move her, she just growls.  Allyson said that's the way she was when they got her from her previous owners.  I don't know if it was there fault she was like this, or if it is a Chihuahua's trait.  I got her to sleep in the laundry room the 2nd night on.  I don't know for some reason I just didn't think to yell out be quiet Nelly and go lay down.  Probably cause I didn't want to wake my girls up.  My girls sleep pretty deep, and don't wake up to loud noises very often.  I had to yell it a few times, but she listened and shut up.  Very nice!
We did take her for a couple of walks, the girls had a blast with that one!  They each had turns holding the leash.  It was funny each time we took a walk we would pass a couple of huge dogs, and they would bark at us, and Nelly would bark and growl.  In my head I was thinking yea right Nelly in your dreams!  Those dogs could eat her whole.  Too funny!  Why do little tiny dogs think they are so tough?  Another funny thing she would do was when you asked her where Mommy or Daddy was or if she wanted to go for a walk she would start barking and running around trying to find them.  We all had a good time with that one!
The week was a success and Nelly really grew on me.  Not enough for me to run out and buy a dog though.  It was very therapeutic to pet her and hold her.  The girls were sad to see her go back home.  It's nice not to hear can I hold her now Mom? over and over again all day long. Oh and to also say give Nelly her space over and over as well.