Getting a New Puppy!

In the Humane Society with my mom and sister.

We got a puppy!!  It's always such excited news when someone tells you that, isn't it?  We really did get a little puppy this week.  He is a beagle mix (with what we don't know) from the Humane Society.  He was transferred from St. Joseph, MO where they don't have a Humane Society.  Rather than face the unhappy alternative, they try to place dogs with other shelters in the region.  We found him in a kennel with his sister where they were named Roderick and Lilly.  Ava decided when she saw Mr. Roderick online that he should be named Bones.  It's definitely a name from the mind of a 6 year old, but I love the names Ava comes up with so it stuck from the beginning!  Ava came up with "Arfy" and "Simponella" for two favorite stuffed dogs when she was 3, and I got a big kick out of that too!  Anyway, "Roderick", now Bones, and Lilly were adorable all cozied together sleeping!

Bones weighs about 6 pounds now, and will hopefully get up to about 25 (and not more!).  His coloring is pretty distinctly rottweiler, which was a big concern for us, but when we visited the vet she thought if he were half rottweiler he'd certainly be bigger than 6 lbs. at 11 weeks old!  Her guess was that Mr. Bones was half beagle, half mutt so probably had multiple other breeds in his family.  She was careful to say though, that there's no way to tell until the dog is an adult and even then it would be an educated guess.  She also said his coloring might change as he gets older.

Anyway, I had a dog growing up, but Alex, my hubby, did not.  He has not been really enthusiastic about this dog idea, and I can't blame him.  They're money, and work, and responsibility, and slow you down when you're planning outings and vacations.  I knew all this, and still I wanted the experience of having a dog for my kids.  My parents got our dog when I was 14 years old, and I really didn't get the experience of growing up along side a dog.  I want that for my kids.  So after much discussion, hemming and hawing (on both sides), and debate, Alex tentatively agreed to get a dog.  I watched the Humane Society's website, and the perfect little dog seemed to fall in our lap.  At least I thought he would be perfect.  

The day Bones decided to show up was not exactly ideal.  Both Nolan and Luke were feeling sick.  I kept Nolan home from pre-school.  All they wanted to do was sleep, and they had fevers the night before.  Bones came home and immediately melted my heart cozying up to Nolan while he rested on the couch, and played games on the Wii.  Nolan was so sick, in fact, that he really wanted nothing to do with Bones, but Bones gently laid next to him and snoozed.  It was too cute!

As expected, Bones has lots of energy and is very playful.  He likes this giant raccoon looking toy that's bigger than he is.  I took him out every 2 hours to go to the bathroom, and he had NO accidents.  Then at bedtime I let him fall asleep wrapped up in his blanket and he slept all the way through the night!  I wasn't sure how I got so lucky! ...until the next night.

The next night he was owly.  He cried ALL. NIGHT.  Everyone warned me.  Alex didn't even want this dog, so I went downstairs and tried holding him to calm him.  Of course every time I left him he cried more.  He never gave up or took a break.  Then I moved his crate to the farthest corner of the main floor.  Still it was just as loud in our bedroom. Then I moved the crate to the basement.  STILL you could hear his crying through the vents.  Then stressed out Bones pooped in his crate.  ARGH!!  I ended up sleeping on the couch with Bones, so that Alex could get some rest.

I am exhausted and a bad morning followed a bad night.  Bones didn't want to pee outside because it was freezing cold.  He did fine with this on the day before.  I waited and waited, only to come inside and have him try to pee on the carpet.  Back outside we went.  I told the kids they had to WATCH him if he was out of the crate, or else back he went.  I had to get kids ready for school and couldn't do both.  So, of course Bones ate Ava's scrambled eggs that slopped onto the floor.  Are eggs bad for dogs???  They're ok right?  

Needless to say, I started having second thoughts about this decision that I was so sure about.  I wanted a dog for Ava to bond with, and for Luke to socialize and interact.  This is a 12-15 YEAR commitment.  What was I thinking??  I have something else to keep me from going out and freedom.

Ava and Bones

Then there was Day 3.  It was more like I expected Day 1 to be.  Bones was sweet, and fun, and playful, but he did have an accident once, which I promptly disciplined him for and took him out.  At night he cried, and I was prepared for this, but Ava was NOT.  She cried hysterically listening to Bones wail in his crate.  Finally, we made the decision to put the crate in the girls' room.  A book I read about training beagles said putting the crate in your bedroom was an alternative, and I told them this would be temporary.  Well, every one slept soundly all last night.

I'm thinking I might give this Bones character a little more time.  He is pretty cute. :-)