Puppy Love (or not)

Shelby volunteered me us to puppy sit for his friend's Boxer baby over New Years. It's been almost 4 years since we had a Boxer puppy in the house, which is apparently long enough to forget just how rambunctious they are. The puppy appeared Thursday morning while I was still in bed and so I awoke to Shelby standing there with a wrinkly, smooshy faced ball of sweetness.

Colin woke up and was delighted to see a dog sitting downstairs. He immediately ran to give her hugs and pet her and play. Poor Bailey was still adjusting to her surroundings and didn't quite know what to make of it. The rest of the morning went ok, Colin and Bailey got acquainted and I was very diligent in the potty walks and Shelby was here to help with Colin.





Afternoon came, Shelby went to work and Colin & Bailey napped...piece of cake.


After Colin woke up we headed to the store for a couple hours, leaving Bailey home to rest in her kennel. My mistake. How was I to know that every minute spent in the kennel equates to the amount of energy in that tiny wrinkled body doubling? I opened the kennel door, Bailey shot out and didn't stop bouncing for hours. I walked her outside and ran her around for a few minutes while Colin screamed inside because I borrowed his playmate. We came back in and they ran around the house like maniacs together. Colin would give his toys to Bailey and squeal when she took off with it chasing after her. This entertained them long enough for me to lovingly prepare a nutritous meal scrape take out on to plates.

Dinner time is where it really started to get fun. Colin and I eat in the living room and watch TV. If I let the dog in there with us Colin will feed his food to her and laugh hysterically while doing it. If I put the dog in another room she screams like she's being murdered and Colin and I cannot hear ourselves think hear the TV. So instead I use the pack n play to section off the couch and tv area from her so she must stay on the backside of the couch and dining room. She spends the entire meal jumping up and hanging from the back of the couch trying to get over. Colin is totally amused and thinks she's playing peek a boo with him and everytime the dog jumps up and grabs hold of the back of the couch Colin yells "BOO!"



After bathtime I let Colin and Bailey play a little more in hopes of wearing them both out so they sleep in. (It was a nice idea anyway). Bailey is now fully settled in and playing pretty rough with Colin. She keeps knocking him over and making him cry and grabbing hold of his pj sleeves and pants with her needle teeth. I calm Colin down and settle Bailey, I let Colin go and he runs right over to egg her on and get her going again, they go back to playing, chaos all over again and the cycle continues. I put them both to bed and swear not to think about getting a puppy again for the next four years.



Eight AM the dog is up. Dog wakes me up. Damn dog wakes kid up. Damn husband sleeps through it all. I go downstairs to let the dog out, she pees. She'd also peed on piddle pad in her crate so I clean that up. I leave her to go get Colin up, pee in the diaper. While I'm upstairs the dog poops on the floor (I purposely didn't feed her yet so this wouldn't happen!), clean that up. Feed Colin. Feed Bailey. Let Colin play while I walk Bailey. Come back inside and, what do you know, Colin pooped. Diaper change. The first hour of my day was shit (no pun intended).

Then the madness starts. Bailey barking, Colin squealing when he's playing too rough with her and then crying when she's playing too rough with him. More pee and poop. I'm already exhausted and these two are just getting started. Now I am certain there are absolutely no puppies in our near future and I'm beginning to question the possibility of more babies too. At least until Colin is potty trained. Then again, changing a diaper is a whole lot easier then trekking out in the cold & wet, begging the dog to pee only to have her come inside and pee on the floor right where you are sure to step in it. Yep, babies have got to be easier.