Teething & Toys

I am beginning to feel like Tom and I got a baby, not a puppy.

The past few days, Murdock has begun teething (losing his puppy teeth). Just as with a baby, this had made for a very cranky puppy who has decided to chew on pretty much anything he can sink his missing teeth into. Well, almost everything. Given the circumstances, he's been pretty good. We haven't lost any shoes to the cause yet, though he did get my umbrella. (In my defense, he hopped up on a chair and grabbed it off the table when I was cooking dinner and didn't see him --- I didn't just leave it lying around).

He's (thankfully) turned to his toys to help soothe his gums. But, in true kid-style, every time I put a toy away, I turn around and four more are on the floor. It's never-ending! I walk into the other room to throw away the stringy remnants of his rope toy, and by the time I come back, there's twice as much string on the floor.

He's scheduled for a neuter tomorrow, which should just take the edge off of his dominant personality. Well, not the personality per say, but his more "aggressive" behaviors. Once he's fully recovered, we hope to start him in some basic puppy training classes, for both behavioral and social reasons.

He's a pretty good dog, he just needs some help in the barking area. If we can get that under control, and brush up on some basic commands (stay and come), we should be in the homestretch in no time...

Puppy = Parenting

When Tom and I decided to get a dog, this was our criteria:

• Must be smallish/medium-sized. Under 35 lbs.
• Not a puppy.
• Non-shedding a plus.
• Calm demeanor
• Easily trained

This is the kind of dog we got:

• Small now. May grow to 40 lbs. Or more.
• 14 week old puppy.
• Short-haired, shouldn't shed, but does. (I'm covered in white hair, and I wear a lot of black. Awesome.)
• Crazy. Loves attention. Usually goes crazy when not receiving enough attention.
• Doesn't listen.

We really picked a winner, didn't we??

I'm convinced that having a puppy is like being a parent. The catch is that we are SO not ready to be parents yet. In a perfect world, we're at least five, if not more, years out from even thinking about being parents.

So why am I looking into daycare, keeping track of doctor visits for vaccinations, calling Tom when the dog misbehaves saying "You will never believe what YOUR dog did...," and speaking in baby talk?

More similarities between puppies & babies:

• They both need structure/schedule in their lives. We have feeding and bathroom schedules pretty much down to a science in our house.
• When Tom's not around, I feel like a single mother, and when he walks in the door, he is usually greeted by me saying "Your turn. You deal with him."
• Dog walker = baby sitter. I never wanted to be the person with a dog walker. Alas, I'm spending more money on this than I do on myself in three months...
• Parenting strategy. Tom and I already started playing the good cop/bad cop game. Not a good idea...
• Boundaries. We set them, he tests them. Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
• Being constantly interrupted while on the phone. "What? What do you want? Why are you barking [crying]?"
• They climb into your bed at night. No joke. Okay, so I let him sleep with me 1 night. Then I stopped. Then Tom let him once. Now I wake up every morning to find him on Tom's pillow. Well done, Murdock. Well done.

So in summary, this puppy, while giving us much joy, is a TON of work. Hello, parenting.