Dogsitting (Part 2)

Sorry for the long break but I just wasn't inspired for a couple of days and then yesterday was my birthday and well, anyway, here's the second part.

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Josh threw his duffel on the bed of the room he had been pushed into by Beauregard. The dog was almost human; Josh half-believed it was the dog telling him to hurry up. But no, it was his great-grandfather calling up the stairs,

"How long does it take to put a bag in a room? Get down here; I have to teach you how to feed the dogs!" At this Beauregard bolted from the room. The entire house seemed to rumble with the sounds of the dogs running towards their dinner. Sighing, Josh started back down stairs and muttered to himself, "How hard could it be to feed some dogs? He must think I'm an idiot."

"Here we are; this section of the basement is the dogs'. The part through the door over there is storage. That's also where the furnace and the electric box are in case you ever need to know, " the elderly gentleman led him down a rickety set of stairs into a dark concrete basement. He led him over to some cabinets in the corner and flicked on a desk lamp. Pointing, "This is where I keep their food. Feed Beauregard first or he'll take the other's food. Take the ground beef the minifridge and scoop out two cups of it. Come on now don't be shy. Then add a scoop of potato skins, a scoop of the carrots and peas, and a half-scoop of plain yogurt. And don't mix up the scoops. Put it in the microwave for five minutes, then let it cool for a minute before putting it in his bowl; it's the high one. Don't ever put his in one of the others because he'll eat to fast and choke. "

"Now while you've got that going, give Charlie and Miss Daisy theirs. You have to feed them at the same time or they'll bicker about it. They get the Iams, two scoops for dinner. Then Charlie has this sauce on his, just a squirt. Miss Daisy gets a half scoop of the plain yogurt and a carrot. Now you have to be sure to put them in the right bowls or they'll bicker. Charlie is teal and Miss Daisy is pink. The puppy here has to eat last or the bigger dogs will steal it from him. His is a scoop and a half of the bil jac puppy chow and one of these vitamins at dinner. He doesn't get a vitamin at breakfast; don't let him trick you tomorrow morning. It's really not hard to feed these guys. They don't take long to eat; just make sure their water bowls are full and wash out Beau's bowl when he's done. The sink's by the washing machine."

Josh felt like he'd been hit in the face. Talk about high maintenance dogs.
"Do the dogs always eat at four?"

"Oh yes. They won't let you wait much longer than that. They love their food and they won't let you forget. They'll wake you up for breakfast too."

"What time's that?" Josh was almost scared to know.

"Six." Josh almost laughed. Of course it was at six am. We wouldn't want to keep the doggies waiting would we?

"Now I'm just going to go over their bedtime routine while we're down here."

"Bedtime routine?"

"Yeah, there's just a few things you should know. They usually go to bed around 8:30. Beauregard sleeps on the race car bed; he likes you to put that red blanket over him once he lays down. Charlie and Miss Daisy sleep in that disney princess tent. He's very protective of her so don't ever try to go in there if they're down here. They have a bunch of pillows in there and that's really all they need. For Max put him in the play pen he'll lay down soon enough. Don't let him take toys in there with him. Just make sure he has his bed, his water bowl should be full, and he needs a fresh potty mat every night. He's just about trained; I just don't want to risk it until he's a little older. That's all you really need to know about that. Any questions?" his great-grandfather looked up from the dogs. Josh shook his head. "Good. Why don't you go ahead and get started on that list I gave you? The lawn mower is in the garage. I don't really care whether you do the front or the back first, but when you do the back you might need to scoop it first. It's probably been a few days."

With this image in mind, Josh went in search of the lawn mower, a shovel, and a garbage bag.