So little known fact... we got a second dog about a month ago. It's been a battle with this little guy since day 1. He has challenged us quite a bit and driven Riley nuts on more than one occasion. Name: Denver. Breed: Black lab mix. Age: 1 year. Current residency: Norris home. Future residency: Unknown. We've been calling him our 'temporary dog' because we are undecided about keeping him. There are days when we're 90-100% sure we'll give him back, and there are other days where we really enjoy his energy and affection in our home. We're constantly back and forth about it. If we decide that we cannot handle him then he will be returned to
SOS Pen Pals, the program from which we got Denver
and Riley, where he will wait to be adopted by another family. Our 2 greatest issues with the pup are his interaction with Riley and his inability to adjust to our routine. The dog is pushy. Also, he has a rough play style which we've desperately tried to tone down, but he enjoys being physical and will randomly launch himself at Riley, which makes me nervous especially around young kids. Needless to say, Riley is not fond of the unforeseen blows to the jugular. On top of all that, even after a month in our house, Denver is still having trouble adapting to our schedule, as I mentioned, and learning the house rules. I try to show the dog some grace as it has been a wild & crazy month with
Poppop passing away and our week-long trip with the youth group. Still, he is unpredictable in the house (i.e. chewing when he's bored or feels neglected and peeing without showing ANY signs of having to go out), and when we put him in his crate, he yelps to high heaven! He is needy, bottom line, and his needs just may be greater than what we have to offer. Denver does have some good qualities, really, he does. His cuteness is probably the best thing going for him (see below). He knows all the basic commands and responds well... at first. It's like, he obeys for the amount of time that
he deems appropriate and then defies, and we go round and round in this cycle of: command, obey, rebel, rebuke, command, obey, rebel, rebuke and so on.
Ok ok, so back to the good, you've heard about the bad, and I'll tell you about the ugly later. I guess he
has come a long way since the beginning in that he rarely nips or jumps up anymore (thanks to the discovery of the spray bottle as a discipline tool), can wait patiently and calmly for food and/or affection, 'settles' in his place while we eat dinner, and walks nicely on the leash (even runs with me occasionally). And he has incredible recall; no matter what he's getting himself into, he almost always comes when called. So here we are, with two dogs, wondering if we've made a poor decision or a great one in which the greatness has yet to be revealed. Maybe it's bad timing. Maybe we did not consider this particular dog enough before diving into adoption. Maybe we're expecting too much out of Denver in too short of a time. It's also terribly hard not to compare Denver to Riley as we are admittedly biased. Riley's the best, so do we need another dog? I'll tell you what, I've been doing a lot of praying and seeking out a lot of people for advice and watching a lot of Dog Whisperer. Riley's back and forth about Denver too... he likes to run & play, but he does not like to be pushed around. He likes to have company, but he does not like to share attention from us. I think that if Denver was our only dog this would be a different story. We'll keep you posted on the final verdict. Meanwhile, read this excerpt from my journal from
day 2 of owning Denver (this is the ugly):
...I was already far more emotional and easily upset than usual, so the total breakdown I had after walking in on my very own 'Marley & Me' experience was imminent. After a full day with 2 demanding pre-schoolers and wrestling with emotions over Poppop, I walk into my house fully expecting to enjoy some peace. What do I discover? Newly adopted Denver has successfully managed to bust out of his crate, chew through Steve's favorite pair of slippers and my running shoes, relieve himself in the laundry room, make our living room look like a bomb had exploded not to mention drive Riley completely bonkers! Was it really that bad? Oh yes... The only thing left to do after my crushing discovery was cry (and clean of course). And when I scolded Denver, he strategically (I assume) obeyed my every word and stared up at me with these apologetic eyes. Darn you dog! Why must you play the cuteness card? I had no other choice but to show grace as he looked at me sweetly and offered total submission. I wanted to be angry but simply could not, so I cried, I cleaned, and eventually, I laughed...
No comments:
Post a Comment