Adopting puppies: The Hound who thinks sleep is for losers
How “speaking dog” helps to housetrain your dog better
For two straight years, I’d been trying to figure out whether I wanted a dog. When I first moved into my condo, I was told there was a no-pet policy so there was no reason even humoring the idea. I became a dog walker to have the four-legged, furry companionship I was used to with my German Shepherd (for nine years) and Labrador Retriever (for 13 years). Eighty-four dogs later, and joining the condo board to remove that no-pet policy in our Rules and Regulations, I just didn’t want to give up any of them.
A couple of months ago and news of pandemic pets, I finally put two feet firmly on the ground to adopt. While the United Kingdom was having pet owners return theirs, I was having trouble even finding dogs to adopt of any age in Chicago. I still don’t know what made me check again on Juneteenth; I’d just walked a dog and was browsing around while watching a black history documentary.
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I spied the eyes of a dog named “Ducky” and thought, “I want her. But she may be too big as an adult. Let me keep browsing.” I filled out the application, but I kept staring at her pic. To my absolute amazement, “Ducky” was the only dog left of the four I chose. I got an email less than 24 hours later and arrived at the pet adoption agency to get her. But somehow in my 22 years of pet ownership and 84 dogs walked, I genuinely forgot just how hyper puppies are.
When will I sleep more than 4 hours again?
I don’t know how I forgot how hyper puppies are. Maybe I got away with conveniently forgetting because I was a child with my Lab, so I was as hyper as the dog. And the puppy life was cute when I was going back and forth to college for a year and only seeing the fun part. It’s an altogether different ball game when it’s you who is responsible for housetraining your dog.