Raising puppies is not for the faint of heart.
Ivy discovered dirt today. Not the muddy form of dirt that spreads itself across the yard like peanut butter on bread when temperatures are above freezing, but, rather, the dirt that supports our five-foot tall Dracaena Janet Craig. The plant that has found a home in the corner of our dining room for the past two years. The plant that minds its own business, filling the corner with lush green. That plant.
I found Ivy’s Kong ball inside the container, setting atop the soil; her nose covered in brown, and her paws spotted with crumbs. She appeared nonplussed at my response; for her, digging in dirt was as natural as splashing in puddles.
The little girl has been with us for ten days. She eats morning, noon, and night, though prefers drinking to eating. Her teeth are sharp, though she willingly trades a hand for a Nylabone. I note her growth based on how much she looms over our dilute tortoise cat, who wonders what she ever did to deserve the likes of this bubbly little creature.
One of the puppy’s first lessons was: we don’t eat library books. We also do not poop in the crate, pee on the rug, or chew on the table legs. We do, however, pee outside when her humans take her out after eating, playing, sleeping, and breathing. We do poop twice after each meal (this was discovered the hard way). We do pull in the direction of our neighbor’s side fence to visit Henry, the Bichon Maltese, and if he is not there, will sit facing his yard in wait.
She wags her tail at breakneck speed when meeting someone for the first time, or seeing her humans magically reappear in the morning. She retrieves (I swear). Our floor is littered with her toys, colorful, fluffy, hard, soft. I remind myself that these trying, all-consuming puppy days are limited. She will not always need constant watching. In time, she will let me know when she needs to go out, instead of me having to calculate those outings. But, she will then be too big to carry and will have lost that sweet, musky puppy fragrance.
Raising puppies is work and laughter and exhaustion and appreciation of those relaxing moments when I cuddle her and breathe in all that she is and all that she will be—one day.
February 18, 2020
10 weeks, 4 days