I never had a dog.
Well ok, not never. I had a dog when I was 5. We named him Brandon, after Punkie Brewster’s dog because… obviously.
I remember 3 things about Brandon:
– He was about my size.
-He once pounced on me and knocked me to the ground.
-He one day miraculously disappeared after (for what in my memory feels like) about a week.
That is about the extent of my experience with puppy ownership.
Since then, I’ve never really considered myself “pet person”, but ironically about 5 years ago I gave birth to Snow White, who gushes anytime her path crosses any animal… especially, dogs.
And so, James and I found ourselves seriously contemplating getting the kids a puppy this year for Christmas.
When we shared our thoughts, we got mixed feedback about the idea. There were those that shared in our excitement of just how over the moon the kids would be on Christmas morning and then there were those who kept it real … “Have you lost your mind? You have newborn… and a new home”, “Seriously, think about it. Puppies are more work than babies”.
Of course, we didn’t hear the realists. We were all caught up in romanticizing that magical moment we delivered the dog a la Lady and The Tramp, in a pretty box with a big red bow (Which did NOT come from Santa, by the way- because Psssffft!!!! There was NO way were letting the old man steal *that* thunder).
And so Ms. Piper, the Shih-tzu princess, joined our family.
The kids were indeed over the moon– still are. They love her to pieces. In the words of Laina, “She’s adorable”.
But the chasing her off of the baby’s toys every 10 minutes? Meh.
Having to take up every area rug in sight because she seems to like them better than her training pads? Not so adorable.
The middle of the night “yipp, yipp, yipp”-ing and getting up to play at 5am .. on a Sunday? NOPE. Not adorable.
That person that said “A puppy is more work than a baby”… not. kidding.
Pipes and Avs seem to be on slightly different schedules at night. Without fail, as soon as we are done feeding the baby and get him back down to sleep… Piper starts her yipping… and with the high ceilings in this house? EV.ER.Y.TH.I.NG ECHOS- so immediately we start panicking “She’s going to wake the baby!!”, and often times she does. It’s like having very out-of-sync twins.
James and I are constantly trying to reassure ourselves, this is only a phase. It will pass. When she’s trained in a few weeks it will be SO much better… until of course she starts teething ….no doubt, simultaneously with Avery.
If I’m being honest, when we are having these conversations in the middle of the night, drop dead exhausted, we question our sanity. In the wee hours of the night, she feels a bit like the oversized sectional we impulse bought that ended up being too big for our living room.
But with all that being said, she’s here to stay. So we just need to buckle down and ride it out. I mean, who wants to deal with the therapy bills of kids whose parents gave away their Christmas puppy?
And she *is* great snuggler, and seeing moments like these *do* make my heart melt… you know, after we’ve had several cups of coffee and such.
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So tell me, Do You Have Puppy Training Advice? Lay it on me!
