Every few weeks we visit a customer at home to see how the gear actually gets used. This time it is Juno, a four-year-old whippet, who lives on the third floor of a walk-up with her person, Linh.
The flat
Sixty square metres, one bedroom, a kitchen that doubles as the hallway. There is no garden and no lift. Juno's day is built around three trips down the stairs: a long one at seven, a short one at lunch, and a wander after dinner. "The stairs are the workout," Linh says. "By the time we get to the street she has already done more than most dogs do in a garden."
The hook by the door
The first thing you notice is that nothing lives in a drawer. The leash hangs on a single hook at Juno's shoulder height, with the waste-bag pouch clipped to it and the collar already threaded through. Linh's rule is that leaving should take fifteen seconds. "If I have to look for anything, we lose the moment. She hears the hook and she is at the door before I have my shoes on."
The leash is the hands-free style, worn across the body. On a third-floor staircase that turns out to matter more than on the street: both hands are free for the rail, for the post, for a neighbour's shopping bags.
Where she sleeps
Whippets are heat-seekers, and Juno is no exception. Her bed sits in the corner of the living room nearest the radiator, with the bolster pushed against the wall so she can lean on it. A second cover lives in the laundry basket at all times. "One on, one washing. It is the only way to keep a pale dog bed looking like a pale dog bed."
At night she migrates to the sofa. Linh has given up pretending otherwise.
The small things that worked
- A collar that stays on. Juno wears a soft collar all day and it has not rubbed, which matters on a short-coated dog.
- Meals in a heavy bowl. A whippet eats fast and a light bowl travels across the floor. The stoneware stays put.
- A puzzle feeder for the lunchtime meal on days when the midday walk gets cut short.
What she would change
Storage. "I would love somewhere to put the towel for wet days that is not the back of a chair." We passed that on. Linh also wishes more cafes had a hook under the table for the leash, which we cannot help with, but we agree.
Advice for other city dogs
"Decide where everything lives and never move it. Walk at the same times. Find the one quiet street and make it yours. And accept that a whippet will be on the sofa whether or not you have a view on it."
Juno, for her part, had no comment. She was asleep on the sofa.