- He did a poo, which, oh, that smells.
He did a poo, which is great.
Lord.
(upbeat music)
Hello, my name is Daisy Maskell,
and this week I am fostering a dog.
Looking after a dog for seven days
is definitely gonna be a new experienced for me.
I have never welcomed a pet into my home before.
However, I have nothing to do,
and so I feel there is no better time
than the present, right now.
So, what I did was I reached out to a guy called Jon.
Now he owns a doggy daycare
and he offered me his dog for the week.
The concept of taking him from another owner,
their absolute pride and joy,
was really, really daunting.
However, he reassured me that Loki is amazing,
he's really, really well trained,
and so everything should be fine.
This could potentially be the best week
or the worst week of my entire life.
Up until 30 minutes ago,
I was jumping for joy.
Guys, in 30 minutes time,
I am about to go and pick up Loki.
I'm falling apart, I am terrified, I'm so nervous,
I feel like this is the stage,
it's very similar to having children.
Starts off as a great idea,
right now I'm at the stage of epidural and guys,
there is no going back.
I'm gonna be fine, I'm honestly gonna be fine.
Previous experience of caring for animals,
none, but how hard, honestly, could it be.
We're about to go pick up a doggy.
(sighs) Here we go.
I was so scared,
there was a million and one things
going through my mind,
there was regret, there was excitement.
So we arranged to meet Jon and Loki
in a park that was local to the both of us,
halfway in between, and I was happy
because Loki came up to my mom and I straight away.
And so, it was then time to say goodbye.
Loki jumped into the back of the car with me,
and then Jon went on his way
and that was the moment that it hit me,
I was like, this is my responsibility now,
what have I done?
Guys, my life has peaked.
Oh my God!
He is the cutest thing in this world.
Guys, meet Loki.
How am I gonna give this dog back?
I've had this dog for 20 minutes.
I don't know how I'm gonna give him back.
I'm obsessed.
The car journey home, he was really good.
He slept on my lap the entire time,
and I jumped out of the car
to go and get some food supplies for the week.
I came back in once I'd got my stuff
and my mom said that he was actually pining for me
at the window, which I was like, okay, cool,
he trusts us, he's getting used to me,
and he's feeling a certain type of way
towards me being in his presence already,
which was a massive positive
'cause we'd only known each other for a couple of hours.
So when we arrived at my house,
I decided to take his bed
out of the car that Jon had given to us
and put it into my house already
because I wanted him to walk in
and see something that was familiar
and feel as though he had a safe space
that he knew was his.
This bed looks so cozy.
I feel like I'm getting so attached to him already
that I might potentially stay in this room with him.
Is that overstepping the boundary?
I don't know.
But this is cozy as in here.
I'm so down for a little sleepover.
Jon also gave him a little suitcase
to come along with as well,
which had loads of toys in.
Look at his little suitcase with his toys!
It also had prepackaged food, which was really good,
and he labeled it literally
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday,
in little freezer bags.
He's bagged up his dinners
as if it's like this Meals on Wheels service
and you literally pierce the film,
stick them in the microwave for 30 seconds,
and you're good to go.
So I decided to stay downstairs
the first night on the sofa,
I sort of hid in our back room,
just in case he needed me.
This protective parent, obsessive mom vibe
that kicked in within the first couple of hours.
I'm losing control.
I just feel like for the first night,
I should be down here
and listening out for him.
He's got up a couple of times from his bed
and wandered in and seen me
and I've told him to go straight back to bed.
I am literally acting like Supernanny now,
I'm like, no attention, don't stroke him,
just send him back to bed.
Loki, come on, back to bed.
Come on, back in your bed.
Come on.
So I'm hoping that he's like, trying his luck,
and he's realizing that I'm not gonna crack.
Flash forward like, midway through the night
and he's on the sofa with me sleeping.
No.
I'm trying to be a good dog mum
but so far, so good.
I think we're good.
I was really, really adamant
that I wanted to be a good dog owner,
I wanted him to feel as though
his normal routine was still taking place,
even though he was out of his own home.
So I thought it was really important to stick to my guns
and continue the training
that Jon continues to do with him day-to-day.
I'm gonna try and check on him
without waking him up.
Okay, I'm gonna, like, pan you 'round the corner.
Is he in his bed?
Is he in bed?
I can't see.
I think he's sleeping.
Guys, we did it, we did it, we did it!
First night, and he's in his bed right now
and he's staying there.
I'm a dog mum.
(jazzy music) So, moment of truth.
Did Loki sleep in his own bed last night like a big boy?
Yeah you did!
You slept in your bed.
You were such a good boy, yes you are, good morning.
Good morning.
Yes, good morning.
Are we gonna have fun today?
What you gonna do today?
I was determined to check a few things off of a list
whilst having Loki.
I wanted to contribute to Loki's Instagram account
and Loki has an existing Instagram,
and so we did some little photoshoots in the garden,
which was very fun.
And he is a model, he knows how to pose.
(funky electronic music) Yes sir, work it.
(camera shutter clicks) He's over this already.
Good pose, it's real right now.
Wow, hold it, hold it.
You are posing!
(upbeat music) Day-to-day life
was really interesting
because I am quarantined
and I'm in lockdown with my mom,
so it's just the two of us in the house at the minute.
And we sort of go about doing our day-to-day things
that we need to do around the house,
but having what felt like an extra person
was really interesting.
There was definitely a presence that we felt
and we'd almost congregate around him.
I also changed the content that I put on TV,
I adapted it for it to be dog-friendly.
So we watched a lot of "Lady and the Tramp,"
a lot of programs that featured dogs in heavily.
And then I realized that he had no interest
in watching cartoons that predominantly featured dogs.
(bouncy music) At the start of this,
I was really, really nervous about the poo situation.
So the first time picking up his poo was an experience,
and I felt like it was something
that I never quite got used to
throughout the entire time that we had him.
Just picked up my first ever dog poo.
What do I do with it now?
Loki, good boy!
There always seemed to be a drama surrounding him pooing,
whether it was him going to squat down
on someone else's front lawn
or me depositing the poo in the wrong place.
So re: my dog poo drama, I walked out, I was like,
"Oh my God, there's one," guys, it's a letter box,
I was about to post a poo through a letter box.
Or me not being able to find a poo box
and taking the poo home.
Question, he did a poo, which, oh, that smells.
He did a poo, which is great.
But I didn't find a bin on the way home
and I don't know where to put it.
I'm home now, and I didn't find a dog bin,
so do I put it in the normal bin?
I think I need to research this.
I don't, I know you don't flush it.
There was always something surrounding the poo.
I think it takes longer than a week, maybe,
maybe it takes longer than seven days
to get used to that as a concept,
and maybe if I had him for an extended period of time,
it would just be second nature to me,
but it was just something that I really struggled
to wrap my head around.
One thing that Jon warned me of
was the fact that he's a black lab and he sheds.
There was hair everywhere.
I didn't quite expect how much hair
(laughs) was gonna come out of this dog.
I don't know how, to this day, that he still has hair,
shedding like that on a day-to-day basis,
but it was a lot.
Right here is a day-to-day reality,
black lab hair everywhere,
but I love him so much, I really don't care.
I just didn't expect it to be a situation
whereby we were hoovering and sweeping up by the hour.
I think the setup of my house didn't help either.
I have tiles, white tiles downstairs,
so any little black hair would just show up straight away.
I grew to love him so much that it just didn't matter,
and after a couple of days,
you're completely blind to it, but it was a lot.
So any owners out there
that are looking to get a Labrador, they do shed.
I've just never seen anything like it.
Oh my God, Loki!
We love you.
(upbeat electronic music) I think the hardest moment
of having Loki was saying goodbye.
That was something that I, towards the end of the week,
I was really dreading.
We grew to love him so quickly.
We grew to welcome him into our family and into our home
as if he was ours, really, really quickly.
We completely got to see the benefit
of what a dog brings to just the overall vibe of a household
and the way that he makes you feel as well.
You know, you have something to get up for in the morning,
you have someone that is relying on you,
and that has an expectation of you,
and that gets you out of the house.
Loki, spin.
Loki, sit.
That's lay down, but good boy.
The final day of having Loki was really hard.
I had to pack up his bed and his toys.
I'm having to pack up all of his toys and his bed
into a little suitcase 'cause he's going home,
this is so sad.
Oh my God, we're gonna miss him so much.
(gentle guitar music) Where you going?
You're going home now, hmm?
We're gonna go home, yeah?
Yeah?
What's going on.
Come on then,
come on then.
And the drive to drop him off to Jon was heartbreaking.
This is so sad.
We're on our way to drop you home, Loki!
We dropping you home?
It was so sad, it was genuinely a tearful moment,
and I remember getting home and the house just felt empty,
the house felt sad and boring and lonely,
and we sort of left his hair on the floor
for a little bit because we miss him,
and I still find hairs to this day (laughs)
that he left behind as a reminder of his love,
and of his appreciation.
There is so much love
that a dog can give you, unconditional love.
You can walk into a room after, you know, minutes apart
and they are just so happy to see you every single time.
It just gives you such an incentive
to wanna do everything in your power
to make that dog happy,
whether that's going out on walks with us,
playing in the garden,
whether that's teaching them a new trick,
whether that's putting little treats
in their little chew bones,
they completely become a massive part of your life.
They become like your child,
and I think, to a certain extent,
that's the way I would want it to be.
We're getting a dog in the future
and I hope, I really, really hope
to be able to see them again soon.