This post initially began as a “I love my dog and couldn’t imagine life without him” post. But I remember life without him mostly because it’s true that dogs are a lot of work.
We brought The Doctor home exactly one year ago today from another foster family. After pleading with Paul for weeks to foster a dog, I finally convinced him on his condition it was an older black lab mix. He didn’t want an unpredictable puppy that wasn’t housebroken — but I brought home Arrow, a scared 3-month puppy, anyways.
On the ride home, Arrow whimpered and made his way from the back seat to the passenger seat, then finally settling on my lap and unbuckled my seat belt in the process. When we finally arrived home, he ran off into nearby bushes and relieved himself. It was my first experience with dog poop; cute puppies don’t mean cute poops.
While we waited for Paul to return home with a crate, Arrow would avoid eye contact and instead diverted his attention to the Weather Channel.
Arrow’s stay with us was extended from a week to a month, delaying anyone from adopting him until we were sure we wanted to surrender him to another home. But I realized that Paul was a goner when he started calling him “The Doctor” to “try the name out.”
We finally adopted The Doctor in December as a gift to us. Since then he’s matured and grown into a much larger puppy who is sometimes headstrong but very loyal. Gone are the days when he’d panic upon meeting new people or other dogs. He’s a charmer and is a quick study (he learned how to shake, high-five and fist bump within a couple days). We always need to be in his line of sight. In the year since we’ve had him, we’ve also become much more outdoorsy. We take regular walks and jaunts to the park or beach. And people know our dog on a first name basis without any clue to ours. But I miss those days where I could sleep in without a care. I especially miss the times I can be away for home for hours and not have to worry about another creature. And then there’s the issue with the mailman. Even Doctor falls into clichés. But we love him and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
My Burning Kitchen... on the road 
Great post. You know what? I could go without a dog for a couple of days, but that’s about it. Alex, my 11 1/2 year old pitbull/dogo argentino mix, keeps me active.
I feel the same way. When he’s not with us, we talk about him!
Me too:)
TC and I enjoyed meeting The Doctor last month! He is such a good dog!!! You’re right about him needing you guys to be in the line of sight. When Paul and TC went into K to pay for some snacks, I watched him outside. He was tense the whole time, straining and trying so hard to make sure he could still see Paul. Awwww! Paul showed us how he exposes his teeth in a fake snarl when being fed a snack too!
I’m so glad you got to meet him. Hopefully next time he’ll do some tricks for you.
He looks like a great dog. I remember my old Irish Setter as a puppy and my goodness, he was a handful. They say pups tend to calm down after 3yo but I swear my Irish didn’t calm down (and let me sleep in) until he was a 7-8yo 🙂
I think I’ll be sad when Doctor stops acting like a puppy but also a bit relieved. And wow, 7 or 8 is quite an extension of puppyhood!
Maya is now 8 years old but she still has a lot of puppy-like tendencies. I can see her age starting to come on a bit as she’s finally calmed down a bit (unless we are at Jake’s house then it pretty much takes her forever to calm down) and gets tired a lot easier now. I remember those first few years I felt like she would NEVER be housebroken but it’s all totally worth it! Doctor is such a cute, cute dog – I’m glad you found a forever friend! He’s grown so much, he’s much taller than that wall outlet now!