Interesting Request #3
At the beginning of October 2004 I received a call from a woman asking if I offer pet services. I told her that I did. She then asked if I offered pet sitting and pet taxi services and again I stated that I did. She then proceeded to tell me that she had an unusual request. I was thinking to myself, “Animals? What can be unusual?”
She then proceeded to tell me that she was getting married in two weeks and that she wanted her two Bassett Hounds to be part of her wedding and would I be able to help her out. All I would have to do was pick them up from her house, dress them, take them to the local golf course, basically sit through the wedding, and then take them home after the wedding. I am beginning to think, “Easy money.”
I told her that although I had never received a request like this before, that I would be happy to help out. She had stated that she had “outfits” that she wanted each of them to wear. There was a veil for the female dog, Snuggles, and a groom outfit and pillow for the male dog, Sugarjack. After I told her that I would have to charge hourly for
something like this and told her my price, she agreed to it. We then decided on a mutual date for me to go over and meet the dogs, pick up my money, get a key, and have her sign paperwork.
A day before the wedding it had been raining and the morning of the wedding it had been drizzling on and off. My daughter Taylor, who was my assistant for the day, dressed up and we were on our way to get the dogs. When we first got to the house Sugarjack was VERY excited to see us and jumped several feet off of the ground to greet us. He then proceeded to take his outfit in his mouth and try to run around with it. After chasing him and his outfit around, I was able to get it on him. I then put his pillow on him and started to put on Snuggles’ outfit.
Next it was off to the car. Taylor had to sit between two drooling dogs all of the way to the golf course. Once we got to the wedding site, getting them to follow my directions was another thing. I took pictures before they could go wild or ruin their outfits. We then met up with the bride and groom so they could take pictures with them. After that we had to wait a while before the actual ceremony. People were “Oohing” and “Aahing” over the dogs and I was trying to get them to pose. I wish I would have had someone videotaping it all.
The ceremony finally started and I handed them off to the Maid of Honor. Just about 10-15 minutes into the ceremony Snuggles started howling. I was trying to dodge the video camera and photographer to take her off to the side. At the end of the ceremony I handed her back off to the Maid of Honor to walk back down the aisle with both dogs. It started raining so we took the dogs home.
Overall, Taylor and I had some great laughs and enjoyed ourselves, but I am not so sure about the dogs as they were ready to nap at the end of it all. It was an adventure of a lifetime and a service that I can chalk up to as unique.
