A Tough Lesson Learned

I've been debating with myself about how to write this post.  Actually, I haven't wanted to say anything but felt I couldn't leave you all just hanging, wondering what had happened.  It's been a tough two weeks trying to adjust to having a new puppy in our home.  I thought I could do it but it turns out that I couldn't.  Auggie has a new home now.

Here are some tough lessons that I learned through this process:

1.  You can never expect a new dog to replace a dog that you've lost.  I have desperately missed Fresca the Wonder Dog who was my constant companion for almost 15 years.  I thought that a new puppy would fill that gap and take up where she left off.  Auggie will make his new owner a wonderful companion but he will never be Fresca.  It was unrealistic to expect that and unfair to him to put that expectation on him.

2.  Consider your lifestyle long and hard before committing to a pet.  I've known this but somehow that went out the window in the excitement of the moment.  I'm a sedentary person. I thrive on HOURS spent at the computer or in a recliner curled up with a book or my knitting.  This is hardly the personality of a person who is a good match for an energetic little puppy.

3.  Be honest about your personality needs.  I have never been a person who has a lot of patience.  The only time I am patient is when I'm engrossed in a clerical task.  When I was raising my children, it was the Commander who would step in when I was becoming unraveled.  He is a very steady person.  He'd take over and give me a chance to regroup and calm down and then I'd be back in the thick of things.  With a new dog or puppy, you need a lot of patience.  I thought by being home all day, I'd have an easier time training a puppy.  Instead I had more time to be frustrated.  I also need LOTS of structure/order to my day.  I can't handle chaos or a bunch of things happening at once.  I have to assess one thing at a time, deal with it, and then go on to the next item of business.  When I'm rushed or stressed, I fall apart.  I don't think puppies read that manual.  They are, by definition, chaos with a tail.  I've been in a perpetual state of stress since Auggie came home.

4.  Do you have other demands for your time?  Do you work all day?  Getting a dog is going to be tough.  You'll need to make arrangements for a dog walker or someone to come over during the day.  In my case, I'm called down to Texas frequently to help out with the grandchildren.  I knew this beforehand but had  blithely told the Commander that I'd just take the dog with me.  Reality hit home when I saw Auggie in action and realized that it would be some time before I could comfortably take this little guy down to a house of toddlers.  For one, he'd eat most of their toys.  Two, he'd chew up their house.  Three, he'd probably pee all over it.  And four, he was firmly in the nipping stage and they were too young to understand being careful around sharp, little puppy teeth.  With time and training, these behaviors would disappear but I don't have time.  My next Texas trip is December.

5.  Do you have a support network?  I've often been envious over the years of friends who have family living near them who can "pet sit" for them when they travel.  I've never had that luxury since we've been a military family living far from family.  Luckily, with Fresca, I had friends with a dog who was Fresca's best friend.  We ended up trading dogsitting duties with each other when we'd go on vacations.  I certainly couldn't ask them to watch a puppy who wasn't housebroken and still had a puppy's destructive behavior patterns for 2-3 weeks at a stretch.

To make a long story short, I was fast reaching the point where I was exhausted and almost starting to hate this little puppy.  I felt like I couldn't let my guard down more than 1-2 minutes at a time and then I'd have to rush him outdoors or rush to clean up after another mistake.  I knew that I'd made a terrible mistake and I didn't want sweet little Auggie to suffer from my lack of good judgement.  Luckily, I have a terrific friend.  She had one of his littermates and she stepped in to take him until she could find him a good home.

Auggie now has a new mom.  He has gone to live with a lady who is a widow who had also lost her dog awhile ago.  This lady is experienced with puppies.  Indeed, she fostered six Labrador puppies not too long ago.  She understands the challenges.  She also lives on acreage so he'll have room to romp and run.  His new mom has a friend who is a dog trainer and has offered to be available to help if she encounters any special challenges.  She has grown children nearby who love dogs and quite a few grandchildren who adore Auggie.  I'm so happy for him.

I will admit that I'm still very emotional over the whole thing.  I've cried many a tear over this decision but I know that it is for the best for all of us.  I'm not used to failing at things and I do feel like I failed Auggie but yet, in my heart, I know I made the right decision.  Hopefully by being honest about this difficult time, those of you who are considering adding a dog or puppy to your home can learn from my errors.

It Sure Isn't Mac and Cheese!

We drove down to Frederick, MD last weekend to have a late-birthday celebration with our daughter, Laura.  She had asked if we could have lunch at an award-winning restaurant in Frederick.  The chef had been named "Chef of the Year" several years ago by the Restaurant Association of Maryland and has won other awards and his menus are works of art.  Well, we're pretty much plain farm-fare folks or Tex-Mex aficionados but it was her birthday, after all, so we said, "yes."

We took little Auggie down to meet his cousins, the Cavalier King Charles Spaniels, and he was really happy to play with them.  In fact, he was SO happy that he spent the first 10 minutes chasing Sadie Ann all over their yard.  She finally ran up a tall flight of steps to their upper deck so we all retired into the house.  We hadn't even been inside more than 2 minutes when we heard a big "thud."  Sadie had ran down a half flight of steps to go to their lower level and Auggie had launched himself after her, not realizing that he didn't know how to go down steps yet.  He had fallen down the flight and was at the bottom.  True to his little "tough guy" persona, he shook himself and went to the top of the next flight to look down at Sadie.  We retrieved him before he could repeat his performance.

Soon it was time to crate the dogs and head off to the restaurant.  We had chosen a 3-course lunch.  You had to pick two courses of regular food and then a dessert.  I chose goat-cheese ravioli for my first course.  Here is what arrived.  I took one look at the plate and my first thought was "Someone spit on my food."  When the waitress left us, I said to Laura, "Who slimed my food?"  She laughed and told me that this was called "foam air" and it apparently is all the rage in haute cuisine.  Alrighty then!  Don't ask me what the rest of the stuff was.  It looked like some clover leaves and some seaweed bulbs but Laura said it was fennel and I forget what the green stuff drizzled over the raviolis was.  It did taste ok, though.

The Commander got something with avocado in it.  This is what it looked like.  That green log was avocado paste.  Don't ask me what the rest was.  Our son-in-law got something that looked like twigs but it had dried apple in it.  I have no idea what the rest was.

Laura assured me we needed to order an order of maple bacon glazed donuts so we did.  They were fine but I had to butter my bites.  They were a little dry but maybe it was because we weren't seated until the 2 p.m. seating and they'd been out for awhile.

For the main course, I had a lobster omelet with hen's eggs.  I was a little leery of ordering this when the emphasis seemed to be on HEN EGG.  I wondered what was the catch.  Maybe this was code for some weird type of egg but my son-in-law assured me that the eggs were from regular chickens.  OK, it sounded safe enough.  It came with stuff drizzled over it and was bland but I was afraid to ask for salt and pepper.  I didn't want to insult the chef seeing as how there were no condiments on the table.  I guess they figured his food should be expertly seasoned.  Well, maybe for an expert palate.

None of the dessert choices looked particularly appealing but Laura said to go for the one that had the words "chocolate" and "Marshmallow" in it.  I did.  this is what they brought out.  Words failed me.  That tan smear on the side of the bowl was the marshmallow.  The brownish stuff was very chocolately ice cream that had been freeze-dried (flash-dried?).  Then there was some lacy chocolate thing stuck in a dollop of some unidentifiable ice cream.  It wasn't DQ!

The Commander opted for a cheese sampler plate for dessert.  I kept smelling stinky cheese as I chipped away at my chocolate ice cream.  The fusion of smell and taste was NOT very compatible.  When he was finished with it, I told him, "You're not kissing me with THAT cheese breath."

They brought us individually-wrapped mini loaves of coffee-cake bread with the bill.  Let's just say that I could have bought a Coach handbag for what this meal cost us.  After we returned back to PA, the Commander said to me, "I don't think I've ever spent that much on a meal."  It was an experience I don't think we'll ever repeat.  I, for one, would have enjoyed a $1 box of Kraft mac and cheese much more but it wouldn't have been much to blog about, eh?

New Pups and Feelings of Disloyalty

I wonder if other folks who get a new puppy after a beloved dog passes away go through a period where they feel rather disloyal to their deceased dog?  Our Fresca the Wonder Dog passed away in the Spring and Auggie joined our home this pass week.  Call me crazy but I've been on an emotional roller coaster for several days as different little things that Auggie does remind me of Fresca and then I'm hit with waves of sadness as I think of how much I miss my "girl."

Perhaps I should chalk it up to "new puppy mom hormones."  Or maybe it's just all part of the grieving process that pet owners go through who chose to add another animal to their home.  Here's an example.

One of Fresca's favorite toys was this stuffed cow that "moo's."  It is the only thing of hers that I kept after she passed away.

Auggie loves this toy.  He bounces around the living room with it, attacking its ears and horns and happily chomping on its belly.

Auggie has VERY sharp puppy teeth.  I suspect Fresca's cow won't last long if Auggie continues at the pace he has been going with this toy.

So I have a confession to make.  I can't bear the thought of that toy being ripped to shreds.  It's my last physical link to Fresca.  I swiped it from Auggie when he was distracted with another toy and I'm going to put it up where he can't get it.  I still need to be able to give the cow a quick hug on the days when I'm particularly missing my Wonder Dog.

It's been a day of "firsts" for Auggie.  He had his first nail trim and did pretty darn well.  He got his first dog license.  Although, when the clerk asked me if I'd ever registered another dog with the township, I found myself telling her about Fresca and how she had passed away and I almost found myself crying at the counter.  Sheesh.....get a grip!

Auggie also had his first "play date" with his sister, Kinzie and Kinzie's big sister, Sadie.  Wow, Kinzie is no longer acting like a little princess.  She was getting the best of Auggie for the first half of their play date and then the tides turned.  Suddenly Auggie had her number figured out and was a lot more successful in pinning her down and knocking her over.

I'll leave you with this picture of Auggie and I sleeping last night after our show finished up on TV.  The sneaky Commander snapped it while we slept.  We seem to have similar expressions.  Oy!