Author photo

By Karla Pomeroy
Editor 

Karla's Kolumn

What was I thinking?

 

September 17, 2016



What was I thinking?

We have a puppy in our house.

What was I thinking?

A puppy has us running around yelling No, no, no, as we work on housebreaking her.

What was I thinking?

Let me start from the beginning. Last Friday night I'm watching TV with my husband, waiting for our sports editor to let me know his final story and page are ready for proofing/editing. I get on my phone for a quick look through Facebook and came across a friend's post that they have to give away their puppy they just recently adopted.

I read some of the comments wanting the puppy to go to a good home. I kept looking at the picture of the puppy. She looks a lot like a border collie/German shepherd dog we adopted after we first got married. It made me miss him.

On a whim I save the photo and send it to my husband, half joking with a question, "Can we get her?"

Thinking he'll say no, or tell me that I'm always the one saying we don't need three dogs, I'm surprised when he says "K." I replied back "Really?" And then I actually open up real dialogue and let him know why the puppy is available.

What was I thinking?

We both agreed it doesn't hurt to inquire. So rather than comment on her post I send her a message through Facebook asking if they've found a home. Not yet. I let her know we're interested but if she finds someone closer to home (they live in Utah) that's OK. She says someone is coming to check out the puppy on Saturday and she'll be in touch.

That was done so it was back to TV. I felt confident the puppy would find a good home and it was OK if it wasn't with us.

About 10 minutes later my friend messages me back and says she's talked it over with her husband and she would like us to have the puppy. They'll be driving over the next day.

What was I thinking?

Uh ... honey. Guess what? We are getting the puppy. All night long I'm thinking, what was I thinking. How will the other dogs react? What about the cats? What about traveling with three dogs?

But wait, look at that face.

She's adorable and we'll provide her a good home and I always said I'd have more dogs if we lived in the country.

So Saturday was spent puppy proofing the house.

What were we thinking?

You can't really puppy proof a house. Puppies have to be watched nearly every minute – except when they are sleeping but, well even then ... just in case.

For three days we tried to figure out whether to keep the name they had given her or give her a new name. We've opted for a new name ... Shadow. She and our now middle dog, Ivy, have become pretty good friends and play a lot and wherever Ivy goes, Shadow follows, thus the name.

Ivy has a lot of patience and the puppy certainly tests it and occasionally, has found the end of that patience. She's a puppy, testing patience is what they do.

Our oldest dog Sarah for the first day kept turning her head away, I think in hopes the puppy would disappear.

Our cats, well they weren't sure what to think of the first day. One has put the puppy in her place, while the other seems to have a lot of patience as well and may even be starting to like the puppy.

What was I thinking? I was thinking that dogs and puppies bring us so much joy that even through hard times, like housebreaking training and command training, it's worth it to see those tails wagging when you walk in the door.

Dogs and puppies have an unconditional love people could learn from. They may get mad or pout but not for very long. They are very forgiving.

That's what I was thinking.

 
X
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024