Thursday, July 21, 2011

the excitement/anxiousness/nerves of a new doggy in the house

Well. It certainly has been a while since my last post, but Jared and I have been pretty busy lately.

Mainly, we have been preparing our lives, our home, and our Honey kitty for this guy:





Meet Hans! He's a 1-year-old Whippet mix. We're not sure, but we think he's mixed with some kind of terrier. He's a very nice boy... just melts into you when you start to pet him. I predict that he will be a cuddler :)

We have both desperately wanted a dog our entire marriage (2 years now!!!), and now we feel like we're in a good place to get one. Sure, we live in an apartment where we'll have to take him out to go to the bathroom, but we don't mind that. We've had a chance to practice with a couple of our friends' dogs that we "doggy"-sat, and I think having those dogs around gave us a good idea of what it would be like, and how Honey would feel about it.

Obviously our kitty is our first priority.


She's our BFF. 

Sunday is the big day we go pick up Hans from the shelter and make him a part of our family! I'm actually really nervous about the following things:

  1. He does not know his name. I've read that you have to teach them their name and practice it and eventually they will learn it. But what if he doesn't get it?
  2. He does not walk nicely on a leash. That's pretty normal I guess for puppies, but it's just another things we need to teach him.
  3. He may or may not be housebroken. They honestly don't know at the shelter if he is or not. We get to figure that one out on our own. Awesome??
  4. He may or may not chase our kitty. We have a pretty elaborate plan devised for introducing them so they are nice to each other when they meet face-to-face. I hope it works...
  5. She may or may not like him. Honey was fine with one dog, but hated another. I can't predict how she'll react to this one.
  6. He might not be crate trained. Again, we get to figure that one out. It's likely that he will hate the crate since it looks like the one he's been in at the shelter, so we have to figure out how to make him like it.
  7. He might not like getting a bath. I'm going to guess he's never had one. But that's our first order of business upon bringing him home. He is deer-TAY.

So that's 7 things I'm nervous about. That's kind of a lot. But I suppose bringing a new living being into your home (be it dog, cat, person, etc.) is a risk. It jumbles up your routine. The three of us Shofners have a nice daily flow to our lives. Hans is going to shake it up a bit. But I'm sure he'll fall into our rhythm in a short amount of time.

I hope it doesn't sound like I'm just fearful of this whole thing. I'm actually REALLY REALLY REALLY EXCITED!!! I can't wait to bring him home!! I think Hans will complete our family... for now. With our next addition having two legs and a lot less hair. But that's much further on down the road. 

I mean, come on, we have to train a dog first. Sheesh!


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