We didn't know we bought an alligator...

Yesterday Mike commented on my lack of blog posts. To be honest, we haven’t been doing much! Our life is literally all about Brooksy right now.

I had no idea how much of an undertaking a puppy is. Our days and nights revolve around him: when he eats, when he goes out, how much exercise he gets, how to discipline him. For the first week our only conversations were about the dog. It was pathetic.

I could have written several posts about how frustrating that first week was. On the second night we both admitted that we might have made a mistake. The darn thing just kept crying and wouldn’t sit still for more than 30 seconds! We chased Brooksy all over the house but the minute we went outside his only interest was eating anything he could find on the ground. He refused to walk on the leash and choked himself silly resisting. We weren’t sleeping more than 4 hours each night. I was in a haze.

But gradually things have started to click. B-man and I have a nice morning routine going where we eat breakfast together and chat about our plans for the day. He’s slowly learning that my clothing is not part of his toy collection and I think the word ‘NO’ might be starting to sink in.

We’re lucky because we only have to crate him for an entire day once every few days since Mike can be home with him when he is off work. It’s a challenge when I’m home alone with him because after being locked up all day he is a bundle of energy!

The thing is also totally messing with my emotions. Mike and I texted endlessly the first time we left him alone all day. My heart hurt thinking about him locked up. One day I let him out at lunchtime and he tumbled down every single deck stair. He couldn’t walk on his front leg and I completely panicked. I called Mike (who was at work and obviously couldn’t help me) and just sobbed. I had to wait until I got home from work to see if he was ok. He did laps around the living room for 20 minutes; obviously he was fine.

We’re slowly figuring out his mannerisms—he’s a sweet boy but he can be a little jerk when he puts his mind to it. For example: we set-up a baby gate to keep him in the living room with us. He quickly figured out he could get a running start and throw himself against it to escape.

Mike has been teaching me how to be more assertive with the pooch and that’s helped a lot. We can tell when it’s his bedtime because he has one last burst of energy before collapsing at our feet. We’ve taken to calling him ‘Chompz’ because he loves to gator bite at the air when you’re eating….or when you’re watching TV….or when you’re not paying attention to him.

It has been an eye-opening experience but one we wouldn’t trade for the world. Because in the end, this make it all worth it!