Dear Amy: I’m a nanny, and the family I work for has a very sweet lap dog they inherited from their grandma, who recently passed away. I think that sentiment and grief is what led them to keep a dog very poorly suited for their lifestyle. They spend a lot of time out of the house and the dog has to be crated while they are gone, especially as the house is being redone and the workers aren’t careful about keeping him from going into the street.