Walk in the Park

I vividly remember being seven years old and sitting on my grandparents couch complaining to my grandma about how my parents refused to get me a dog for Christmas... or a TV, but that's neither here nor there. The point is, I am now 22 and after much preparation my fiance and I have adopted our first pooch. Truth be told I now understand why my parents made me wait so long. Of course she is adorable, but three am wake up calls for potty breaks are harder than I would've thought... and I live in Florida so I don't even have three feet of snow to trek through, thank god. 

No matter how many youtube videos you watch, books you read, and shopping trips to petsmart you make  no first time pet owner can really prepare for the responsibility of owning a puppy.By the end of day one, Nilla, our precious little lab-boxer mix fooled me into thinking this would be a walk in the park, maybe the pun was a little intended. But boy was I wrong, day two was followed by Nilla wedging her pooch face into the bars of the kitchen gates we put up for her because she hated being alone for more than a minute. Who knew a puppy's head could be that tiny.

And bedtime, the first night I thought she slept through the night, the following morning Mick informed me I am just a sound sleeper. Night two, he was a sound sleeper and I was on nighttime duty, pun actually unintended this time. I laid as still as possible for like three minutes while she whined, hoping Mick would wake up (sorry babe). After a few minutes of enduring puppy howling my ears starting to bleed and Mick didn't budge a bit from his sleep. I scrambled to find my clothes, open the crate, and let her out. Turns out puppies love playing at 3am, and having little puppy teeth gnawing on your half awake toes isn't as delightful as one would think. After a good half hour of fetch with a toy fish and a night of sleeping on and off I totally understand the responsibility portion my parents drilled into my brain the past 20 years. 

But, no matter how tired I am, waking up to that precious puppy face and puppy smell this morning made it more than worth it. I continuously find myself saying, "my parents were right," the more domesticated I become. Thanks for making me wait. Stay tuned for more puppy stories from a first time pooper scooper.