Second Thoughts

I suppose it's not a whole lot different than what happens to new parents: Second Thoughts. Night before last, I laid in bed thinking who might be glad to be given these puppies. I was feeling ill over the weekend and was utterly exhausted after flopping around for two days. It is an enormous amount of work to manage two active puppies who tussle and fight all day if they are left unsupervised. That translates into no naps for Barbara.
Then I found a website that explains why people should never, ever adopt two puppies at the same time. Especially two puppies of the same gender. There will be fights and posturing for dominance constantly. Two puppies are twice the work, since if the owner isn't vigilant. You have to spend time with each puppy, training them separately and helping each to bond to you as the owner and "pack leader." Pack leaders don't allow fighting between other dogs in the pack. They stop the fight. I've seen this with the older sister dog at the dog nanny's house. She stands between Baxter and Charlie when they begin snarling at one another, so they are pretty calm around her. But without a pack leader, maybe they will have vicious fights for dominance and act like nothing less than "an eight-legged dog" as the woman in the vet's office mentioned to me.
After reading this website, I sat back and tried to decide which puppy we should give away, and who might take it. Which one could I bear to part with? I was so tired and felt so hopeless about having the dogs maim one another, being unable to control them, having them run into traffic, or worse yet, completely ignoring Sam and I as their owners. Perhaps we will never learn to be the pack leader. We have to get another crate and start crate training them. What will I do with them once I start working? I can't bear the thought of them being in a crate for 9 hours--that is inhumane. But they are already starting to nibble on the corner of the sectional. This wasn't a good idea at all to get puppies.

To top it off, Sam came home with a box of his personal effects from his office on Monday. His job has been eliminated and he is now officially unemployed. My heart breaks for him--this was a job that he really enjoyed. Given that the job market is abysmal here, it was a sobering thought that we would not have his input in our finances for awhile. If that is the case, can we afford this vicious, fighting, eight-legged dog?

I told Sam what I had found on the internet and that I was discouraged and worn out with them. "We have to give them to Mimi" (our loving dog nanny who has asked to be their godmother). "This will break my heart." That is what we both thought.

The next day, we spent the day with the boys, carefully taking them out separately to learn how to walk on the leash. We have a month here when we will both be here at home. We have time to train them and get them to behave well. Sam looked down at them sleeping on their little puppy blanket in the den, Baxter on his back with his feet paddling the air as his dreams made him sniffle. Charlie rolled over lazily and looked up at us. "We can't give them away," Sam said thoughtfully. "We can do okay with them."

And we have. Yesterday we put them both on leashes and went in opposite directions in the front yard. I should say, we tried to go. Charlie thought it was a splendid game, tucked his little tail between his legs and started to bolt across the lawn with me in hot pursuit. He had the leash in his teeth and was not about to drop it. Meanwhile, Sam didn't know what to do with Baxter, who threw himself down on the grass and sadly looked up at him through his eyebrows. He is a stubborn little guy, and no matter what Sam did, Baxter would not move. He dug in his heels and started howling.

But we did it together, and with a few treats, the boys started behaving rather well. We're up for it again today. Now, the babies are asleep on the floor. they are so darling when they are asleep...