I’ve had a few comments from people on Facebook and elsewhere that all I need to write or post about for the next little while is Buster. I’m not sure whether to take it as a compliment, but what the heck!
So, as you may recall, we said good-bye to our previous dog, Monty, in mid-December. So, aside from getting a little uptick of mood during Travis and Allison’s visit at Christmas, I was feeling pretty sad a lot of the time. You can ask Dave, I’m not always in tune with my feelings, so even knowing I was probably grieving, I was confused by my reactions. I would burst into tears over nothing. Or at least, for pretty thin reasons that didn’t seem to have much to do with Monty. A lovely song, a sad episode of vintage “All Creatures Great and Small” (a euthanized animal in every episode or your money back!!), a call with one of my kids, I mean, you name it, it would set me off.
So, in mid-January, and hearing about the scarcity of rescue dogs, and thinking that the delay in getting a puppy could be long, I decided to get on a waiting list for a Boston Terrier. This idea came from my friend, Naila, who highly recommended the breeder where she got her dog, so I knew he was reliable and ethical. That’s more important to me than the specific breed of dog, within a certain range. I wasn’t interested in a super high energy dog, or a huge dog, etc, but there were a few small-to-medium sized dogs I would be open to. So, I messaged this breeder, Yan Dufour, from Baie Comeau, and asked whether there would be any chance of getting a dog within a year or two. Unbeknownst to me, Naila had written to him that I might be in touch and gave him a rave review of me as a dog owner, so he wrote right back with a picture of a newborn puppy with the caption, “celui-la est disponible” ” (this one is available) I wrote, “Maintenant??? and he wrote, “non, dans 7 semaines! Là il est toujours un hamster!” (No, not now, in 7 weeks! Right now he’s still a hamster!”). It’s true, Buster did resemble a hamster at a week old!
So, I told him I had to talk to Dave but that I was seriously interested. I mean, wait 2 years? or get a puppy in 7 weeks? My perfect preference would have been somewhere in between, but I thought, heck, let’s go for it! and to my relief, Dave agreed. Miraculously, my crying jags cleared up almost entirely. I still had my moments of course, but the weird, unrelated fits seemed to be cured.
Fast-forward 6 weeks and we’re getting ready to welcome Buster into the household. I’ve been watching a ton of puppy training videos, reading books, figuring out what philosophy of dog training I’m comfortable with, etc. Mainly, I’m trying desperately to feel in control of this situation I’ve thrown us in. We’ve mainly adopted adult dogs, and there’s a good reason for that. Puppies are a TON of work! Think toddlers, but with accelerated maturation, and more mobility, and for a mercy, lacking an opposable thumb. The main differences between having an 8 week old puppy, and having a baby/toddler:
- I didn’t have to give birth to the puppy, so I’m not physically exhausted, nor nursing, nor suffering from haemorrhoids.
- This puppy sleeps! Vs, my firstborn….(no hard feelings, Erica!)
- Babies teethe, but they don’t bite everything in sight, including feet, hands, clothing, wires, couches, shoes, shoelaces, etc…you get the picture. Plus, their teeth aren’t razor sharp.
- I could knit while nursing a baby.
The weird thing is that the more excited everyone around me was getting about us acquiring Buster, the more apprehensive I got. I started doubting my decision, which to be honest, was based on a weird intuition related to a belief in “fate”, that I’m prone to. “This opportunity came out of the blue, I must run with it!” I worried constantly that Dave had only agreed to the puppy so that I’d stop crying. I also knew he wanted to travel during our retirement, and having a dog would put a wrench into that to some extent. I worried.
The time came, Yan delivered Buster (from Baie Comeau!!), spending 90 minutes with us acclimatizing the puppy to his new home. He used his tried and true method which entails bringing the Mom, Angie, along and letting her sniff the place out and decide it was good, in the meantime spreading her comforting scent all over for Buster to smell. He brought toys, food, treats, a blankie, everything one could need, almost. It was something to see, and it worked! In very short order Buster seemed to settle in, biting everything just like he was at home! The very first night Buster slept well, only waking up to whimper a couple of short minutes here and there. Of course, I had my usual insomnia, plus a bit more anxiety because I kept waiting for Buster to wake up. I was a bit of a wreck the next day, and Buster, well, he was a puppy in new surroundings! He was a LOT!
That afternoon I was exhausted and overwhelmed. Dave casually asked how I was and I started blubbering and saying, did we do the right thing?? Is this nuts? Our lives have been turned upside down!! I asked Dave whether he was sure he was okay with it and he reassured me that he thought things would be fine. Just getting all these worries off my chest helped a great deal. I felt better, and now, a week later, we’re getting used to keeping Buster entertained and trying to live our normal lives at the same time. We trade off puppy duty and we’re trying to get him housetrained. He’s unbelievably sweet much of the time, and hilarious the way he runs around. There’s still a long way to go before we have the well-behaved, calm and steady companion I’m hoping for, but we’ll get there. I keep reminding myself that I love dogs, that life without them is sad and boring. I love sharing my life with another species, it keeps things interesting, trying to figure out how they think, and how to get them to want to do what I’m asking. It’s excellent for the little grey cells, and it’ll keep us from worrying about dumb things like aging. We’ll be too busy trying to keep up with Buster!
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