Working, Writing, and Training a Puppy

I may have bitten off a bit too much.

I'm not sure how it escaped my cognition that:

1) January and February are crazy busy months for me as an admissions director.

2) I committed to my publisher to get First, Brush Your Teeth submitted by April 1 in order to have it out by Chandler's birthday on July 2.

3) Puppies take a LOT of work.

I knew all these things separately, but somehow I forgot to consider them collectively. So now I'm in the middle of probably my busiest admissions season ever, training a puppy, and working on my book.

I love my job. I love my puppy. And I love that First, Brush Your Teeth is going to be published by Chandler's birthday IF I can get it turned in on time.

You know what I don't love? Being awakened at 5:30 a.m. by the rustling of a puppy that needs to go potty. Five-thirty am does not exist for me. I'm a night owl and prefer to sleep until at least 7:30.

But here's what makes it worth the interruption of sleep. I took Blu on her very first walk/run today. She was literally bouncing with happiness and was just a pleasure to run with! We have to steer clear of other dogs and grass until her next set of shots, so it was a pavement run, and she was a champ! Not one bark or growl toward another dog, person, or child she encountered. She did piddle with excitement a couple of times, but haven’t we all. She is gonna be Charli's running buddy for sure.

 I've been watching ALL the dog training videos and reading the books. Some call it dedication. Others call it OCD. I had no idea there was this growing continental divide between dog training philosophies.

We didn't need dog training videos or books or philosophies when I was young. Growing up, my dogs lived under the trailer, ate table scraps, hunted for squirrels, and got a rabies shot when they needed it. I don't think we owned a leash, and we certainly never spent money on dog toys. Why would a dog need a toy? If my Daddy were alive, he would disown me if he knew I just spent $20 on a snuffle mat to mentally stimulate my dog during her feedings.

From childhood until now, I've had eight dogs, and I can honestly say, I've never devoted this much mental and physical energy to training. My outside dogs growing up never needed to know anything except how to tree a squirrel and dodge a rattlesnake. The dog we got in our first year of marriage, well, we were just too young, dumb,  and busy with life to think about actually training him. Then the dogs we got after having kids....we were too busy with the kids to think about training the dogs. Somehow we lucked out and ended up with a handful of pretty awesome adult dogs, despite their lack of proper training. But this time, we are older and wiser. We realize that we have a blank slate here with Blu. We know we are the only ones to blame if she grows up to eat all the shoes, bite all the visitors, and bark until every neighbor calls the police.

 So what I've discovered is...it takes three committed adults tag-teaming it in order to train a puppy well without anyone losing their sanity. I had sworn to never get a puppy again. They are too much work! But Chip and Charli both swore we would all do it together, and they've certainly kept their end of the bargain. It doesn't hurt that this goldendoodle is the most cooperative, well-tempered, intelligent, easily trainable dog we've ever had -- nothing like our puppy experiences of the past. She doesn't whine or bark, sleeps through the night, and goes out the doggie door to potty in the dog run...every time. I didn't even know this was possible with a puppy.

Still…it’s a lot.

Working, writing, and training a puppy?! Yeah, I may have bitten off a bit too much. But it all tastes pretty good right now, so I'm just gonna keep chewing.