Puppy and the Dog Whisperer

For the past 10 years, we've been blessed with an amazing dog.  She was a Giant Schnauzer and most definitely the best pet I've ever owned.  Sadly, she died in September.  Since I stay at home, I really missed her.  She was my companion, second set of eyes for my babies and our protector.  It was horrible when she died.  I always said that after Raven, no more pets.  But....the minute she was gone, I knew we'd have another dog.  My kids are still young enough and I feel they need a pet.  Not to mention that talking to a dog seems much less "crazy" than talking to myself all day!

After Raven died we started our search for a new puppy.  Raven was a Black Giant Schnauzer.  She was huge and we have a small house.  Plus she was 80 lbs. which made trips, bathing, etc difficult.  So we decided to be a little more practical this time and go with Standard Schnauzer.  We wanted a black one.  Which turned out to be quite difficult to find.  Apparently they are rare.  And expensive.   We found several breeders but had to wait until a new litter was born.   We continued our search while my husband binged watched Cesar Milan, Dog Whisperer.

Before I go any further, let's talk about Cesar.

I have nothing against Cesar.  He's great.  I do agree with a lot of his theories.  But too much of anything isn't always a good thing.  When I say my husband binged watched it, I don't mean like when we binged watched 5 seasons of Sons of Anarchy.  I enjoyed that.  There was a story line to follow.  Did you know that Cesar has several shows?  Yep, he does.  And they are all on several times a day which are all set to record on our DVR.  Every night for at least 2 months we've watched hours of Cesar.  At one point my son wanted to be Cesar for Halloween.  I didn't think his pale ginger complexion would work but he does have the accent down now.  If you've watched Cesar you know he does the "Tsk/PShht" sound to distract a negative behavior.  My husband is now trying this on the kids.  (It didn't go over well when I was "tsked".)  And if I hear one more thing about negative energy, I may lose it.  

So by this point we've all been forced to watch Cesar and had family movie night when the Bringing Home Puppy episode aired.  My 13 yr old daughter did not partake in the viewing and almost didn't get to go pick out the puppy.  Luckily, my husband and son had plenty of time to educate her.

Finally, after a long 8 weeks, it was time to get our girl.  We were giddy with excitement.  Names were picked and debated, a sweater or two may have been bought.  

A few friends told us we were crazy.  We were like...what??  I knew it had been 10 years since we had a puppy and almost as long since we had a baby but come on?  A cute, cuddly little puppy would be the best thing ever!  Right??  Right?  

We went in "Cesar" style with our calm, assertive energy.  There were 2 girls to pick from and we all immediately agreed on this tiny, cute little baby.  We named her Rebel and brought her home.  It was a 3 1/2 hour drive from the breeder's house so we made a stop at PetSmart.  She totally stole the show there and was the center of attention.  Several people were like "Good luck tonight"  "You won't get any sleep tonight".  Then they would laugh and walk away.  Whatev...we got this.

Rebel got tons of attention that night and stole our hearts.  She had about 30 minute spurts of energy and then would sleep for an hour.  The kids love her.  We went to bed about 11:00 and she cried for about 30 min.  Not too bad.  At 4:30 she started crying so I went to let her out.  And that's when I was reminded how much work a puppy was.  Her little crate was covered in poop.  Not just the crate but the blankets and her were also covered.  I scooped her up the best I could and took her out.  Luckily we made it out before she went a few more times.  Then she had to get a bath and I had to clean up the mess.

Have I mentioned that I love my sleep?  Like, I have to have it or I'm a mess?  Well she had other ideas.  It was play time.  I ended up falling asleep on the floor with her until my husband came out at 7:00.  I got up said "she just peed on the floor, I'm going to bed."  It was pretty much just like when we had a baby.  He had slept through it all.  

The next night didn't have any accidents but she was up and crying every 3 hours much like a baby.  My son thinks we should just strap a diaper on her, he's tired of cleaning up messes.  She does go out and potties but cries her little heart out when you put her back in her crate at night.  

Yesterday she went in to get her ears cropped.  She spent the night and came home today.  Last night my son said, "ahhh, I can finally relax without the dog here."  Apparently, he's also realizing how much work a puppy is.  We had a restful evening and a quiet night. 

So now as I'm typing this, my husband just got home with Rebel and her little cropped ears.  She's literally flying around the house and crying like she's on crack.  She is very excited to be home.  And has a lot of energy from being locked up at the vet for 24 hours.  Also, she seems to be looking for the kids.  Luckily they get out early today!  

We have to travel a lot this weekend for the holiday so it should be interesting.  I know that she will outgrow this phase much like a baby does.  I thought that it would help with missing Raven but I think it's just made me miss her more.  And why didn't we consider getting a dog that was a year or two old?  Ugh.  She's lucky she's so cute. I just hope she realizes that Mama needs her sleep.  And probably new carpet.  Until then I will just keep calm and be a pack leader.