Food, shelter and love

It’s been almost three weeks now since we adopted our new dog from Animal Rescue Foundation. I know that she is still settling in and getting used to us after living most of her previous life at ARF, but I think we have come a long way in such a short time. I don’t mean to suggest that we are finished with the learning curve, but I would like to highlight a few things that we’ve already learned. I should mention that when I say learning, I mean both the dog and the family.

My wife and I have never been without a dog in our 25 years of living together. The six months we spent after our last dog died was a record for us. We wanted another immediately, but told ourselves we would just kind of circle in a holding pattern until something dropped in our lap. For me it seemed like something I was doing out of respect for my deceased friend; the quicker I replaced him, the more replaceable it would make him appear. This highlights my first lesson: Every dog is different; the new one will not step in and “be” the old one and you should not expect him to be. I think in the long run you will love him more for his differences anyway.

The second lesson we learned is one that I know tests the limits of most everyone’s patience, using the bathroom in the house. The first few days were flawless; no accidents at all! But after a week or so we noticed that her stomach was rumbling and she had no predictable pattern of using the bathroom. I realize now that she was holding everything in and only going when she couldn’t hold it any longer. She was both nervous and trying to please us at the same time. Nobody that expects a second date excuses themselves to go take a crap in the middle of the first date! By giving her a too much freedom and responsibility we were setting her up to fail! Sit and stay are common commands, mind reading is not. When they begin to feel comfortable and secure you can branch out from there; consistency is the true spice of life.

As she has become more comfortable with us we have allowed her more freedom. We kept her on a leash constantly for the first couple of weeks, but have now started to let her play fetch and run around the yard freely when we are all outside. We live on a dead end street where the traffic is light and she has done a good job of not straying too far. But this week when I let her explore the woods behind the house she gave me a big surprise. She located a large pile of deer droppings and in less than two seconds coated her neck and back with the most disgusting smell one can imagine. Of course I patted myself on the shoulder for getting a white dog (shows dirt easily) while I was hosing her down in the backyard, but this brings up another point: expect them to be 100% dog! My old dog would never have done this, but he also had 11+ years of practice knowing what I expected of him.

I’m sure the lesson pile will continue to grow and I plan to remember as many as I can. Sharing my home with a creature that reasons in such a basic fashion is a lesson in itself; A lesson that I often forget.  We all want good jobs, nice cars and the trappings of a good life, but without the basic wants of a dog, food, shelter and love, none of this other stuff would do us a bit of good!