Furry Friend Day 1

 

"Dogs feel very strongly that they should always go with you in the car, in case the need should arise for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear." Dave Barry

Day 1 of being a dog owner...I went to go pick up my new dog at 9 am having what I thought was "dog proofed" my house not really 100% sure what I thought I had achieved or hoped to. At first Pepper (my dog) was excited to see me. I was excited because I figured this dog is one smart cookie! she remembers me from yesterday SCORE I picked a winner - this was not the case (the remembering me part). I get her in the car everything is good no barking there was however a bit of vehicle exploration jumping from front to back a few times and getting stuck half way...again not sure how this was achieved it should be fairly easy for 4 legged peeps to easily maneuver between the two locales. I know this because many a dog at least 6 have done so effortlessly. No judging (ok some judging) but hey she was checking it out.

I bring her home and let her checkout/run around the house. I wasn't quite prepared for how literally run around she would do. Pretty much all furniture was considered fair game...I tried hard not to cringe as my new couch was leapt onto several times despite the nice comfy orthopedic Dog Whisper dog bed that was more than inviting and vacant. I was sort of prepared (not really 100% prepared) for the running around...Pepper is still a puppy, 10 months, ok more like a teenager...hmm hindsight she was being a total rebellious teenager! In my excitement and haste to pick up Pepper I had forgone my morning weekend coffee ritual. Getting home and after a few mins when Pepper seemed to "settle" I made my coffee nice hot and with a nice layer of frothed milk on top mmmm. It was all good until Pepper made it pretty clear that I had clearly made this drink for her. After several frustrating attempts to relax and enjoy my cup o' Joe I gave up and decided that this dog needed a walk to take the edge off - I mean let her burn off some engery. So off we went in the rain with my pocket full of poop bags and training treats. It was all good for the most part. Remember when I said was excited because I thought Pepper remembered me from the day before? well it turns out she just likes people anyone will do so I wasn't quite as special as I thought. Back to walk, everything was going well until we encountered another crazy dog walker venturing out in the pouring rain. Pepper was excited to see both person and dog and was great until she basically molested this rather large dog's face...in a friendly way if that's possible. You could tell this huge dog was like Mum get me away NOW from this crazy dog. I was rather horrified however upon meeting I did explain I had just got Pepper literally that morning (hoping to pass off any bad behavior on anyone other than myself...not sure it worked).

We returned home soaking as 1/2 way through our walk the sky opened and the rain was literally pouring down at least it is summer and wasn't cold. I figured as I was already wet I might as well do some much needed gardening - and planting of some very lovely sunflowers I had received. This involved digging...I discovered Pepper is a great digger...and is a master at pulling out (& chewing) unwanted plant roots! Which was great I guess. What wasn't so great was that I hadn't though how attractive sunflower flowers would be to a puppy....there were two fatalities - just the flowers - so now I have 2 sunflower stalks in my garden. Oh well the flowers will grow back that is if they survive the Pepper tornado which involves checking out sunflower progress every time she goes outside...(sunflower status to be updated as the summer progresses).  I think I managed to tire out Peps I took her for another long walk this evening and since we got home all she has done is sleep...this is my cunning master plan. I hope she doesn't wake in the middle of the night wanting to be entertained because I will be a grumpy bear...and I think grumpy bear trumps cute puppy? Looking forward to sharing adventures about Pepper.

Furry Friend

"I've seen a look in dogs' eyes, a quickly vanishing look of amazed contempt, and I am convinced that basically dogs think humans are nuts."John Steinbeck

After almost two months of stalking a shelter dog online I finally bit the bullet and went to see her. She is now living with me. It took me so long to finally get a dog because well for someone who has lived as basically a nomad for close to 20 years a dog is a major commitment. I wanted to make sure I had everything in place before I adopted a dog. Basically I was worried about silly stuff probably the same way first time parents feel. It maybe the fear of the unknown. I have lived with and taken care of dogs for most of my life and yet I still hesitated about actually owning one. So now I am a dog owner.

I arrived at the shelter and appeared confident stating exactly which dog I was interested in...didn't mention I had been obsessively stalking said dog for weeks online checking to make sure she hadn't been adopted and yet not feeling quite brave enough to go in. I have heard horror stories about adopting pets from shelters. This one article I read online was all about this guy who found the dog he wanted, visited it had an interview, had someone come to his house to check it out, went and bought a ton of doggy paraphernalia only to be told that there was a mistake and his dog was adopted by someone else. The author was so sad. I completely understood how he felt. Sometimes it feels like such an ordeal trying to become a pet owner. What if you are rejected? What if your dog becomes someone else's dog? 

Well I took the plunge and passed all the tests and am now the proud owner of my own furry companion. Pretty sure this was one of the great decisions for the year of forty!