ON BEING A PUPPY PARENT

I’ve been told that bringing a puppy into your home is like having a baby.  I’ve never had a baby, but WOW it’s a lot of work raising a puppy.  Poa goes from being super cute and innocent like the above image to….

…extreme crazy in the next minute.  Caption:  Poa barking at the camera shutter :)

Honestly, after the first couple of days we had Poa, I wanted to throw in the towel.  Raising a puppy was 1000x’s more difficult than I had ever imagined it would be.  I was shocked that my husband, the self-proclaimed-NOT-dog-person, was handling the puppy adjustment lightyears better than me, the love-every-dog-I-see-person.

I never thought a furry animal would change my sleep schedule from 1:00a-10:00a to 11:00p-7:00a.  Anyone who knows me can attest that I’m far from a morning person.  Self-employment contributes to this “bad” habit of sleeping in and working late.  On the plus side, the beautiful sunrise light is pretty sweet to witness every day.

Oh, and coffee has been my best friend this entire month.

Confession:  I love watching Cesar Millan’s Dog Whisperer, and I read several of his books before we brought Poa home.  After the first week, I wanted to throw the book out the window because nothing was working!  It took me a while to learn that I was expecting way too much out of my eight-week-old Samoyed puppy.  Although smart, he’s still learning the rules and boundaries week by week.  I thought potty training would be the hardest thing to teach, but he caught on in a couple days!  We’re still trying to teach him to not jump, not bite, not run out the front door, and quit eating everything he can put in his mouth.
After almost a month of having Poa, I have grown so much as not only a puppy momma, but also as a human. Poa has taught me patience to no level I have ever experienced before.  He’s taught me that sacrificing every convenience and normalcy that I’ve been accustomed to the past 25 years is SO worth it to see him sleeping cuddled up next to a metal chair leg because he likes the cool metal touch.  It’s worth it to get up at 4:00 a.m. to let him out because we can nap together later in the afternoon.  It’s worth every frustration during the training process to see him finally understand what we were teaching him the following week.  It’s worth the expense to buy a new dog toy every week to watch how excited he gets when experiencing something new.

I think that having a pet helps you to appreciate the small things.  Dogs are simplistic in their needs, and yet they have endless love to share.  The amount of laughter my body has endured this month has far surpassed the number of frustrated tears.

I love our pup.