But he's our dog....

But he's our dog....

Getting a puppy is alot like having a baby. I know many people will take offense at that, but if you have a kid or a dog, you know I'm telling the truth. When Jeff and I started thinking about having kids, we each had these preconceived notions of what our little bundle of joy would be like. We watched other people's kids and said things like "our child will never behave that way". Or "we'll never treat our child like that. We'll reason with her." And other such nonsense. Then reality hits and you find yourself saying things you said you wouldn't say and putting up with things you never thought you would. And the phrase "pick your battles" has a whole new meaning.
Fast forward to last summer when we decided to get a dog. Everyone we know has a dog. But our dog was going to be different. Not better. Just different. Because we were going to be it's owner and we were going to do everything right. I mean, come on, I read the Monks of New Skete books. I had seen all of the Victoria Stilwell It's Me or the Dog shows. I read at least 4 books on dog behavior/obedience. Yup, our dog was going to be different.
And then we got him. The first couple of days were fine. We were so in love with this sweet bundle that everything he did was cute. Chew on my slipper? Aww. Snag my new shirt? He's soooo cute! Then the cute factor started wearing off. Potty training was in full swing. I followed him around everywhere and the second he sniffed the floor, he was scooped up and taken outside. After he pottied (and all the while I was saying "good potty!") he got a piece of turkey bacon. Everyone should be treated so well for going potty. I have to admit, he potty trained much easier than I thought. We were sure that this was a sign of his superior schneagle intelligence so we worked on other tricks. He learned "sit" very quickly. He learned "shake" even faster. And then I think it was around this time that he realized this was his house now and we just live in it. I had read somewhere that a person should try to think like a dog in order to train a dog. Are you kidding me?! If I could get into his mind, I'm an certain Jake is always thinking just 1 of 4 things: 1. what can I chew now? 2. when are they taking me to the park? 3. when are they going to feed me? and 4. what can I chew now?
I'm not sure. Maybe he really is an animal of superior intelligence and I've totally underestimated him. He does seem to have us trained pretty well.

Maybe we should have chosen the name Jason

I just did my first post of Jake's blog and Jeff let me know that there is a series of books called Jake the Dog books. They look pretty cute too. But apparently that dog doesn't have his own blog since I got the address. I don't know if there are any books about Jason the Dog or Aden the Dog.

Our new addition

I started to title this "Happiness is a warm puppy" but I had a feeling that the estate of Charles Schultz had a copywrite on that so I came up with my own clever title. Ok, not much imagination there but it's right to the point.

I wanted to start a blog for Jake because I've wanted to have a blog for quite awhile now and I just don't do anything interesting enough to write about. Now, my dog on the other hand has quite a life. Sometimes I just sit and stare at him, wondering what is going on in his mind. What possesses a cute little dog like him to want to eat dirty underwear, a pencil or our palm tree? Why will he bark at his own shadow at night but just stare at a possum? So many questions.....

But, back to the beginning. Last summer we were looking for a cute little puppy to add to our family. This was not a spur of the moment decision. Abigail had been wanting a dog for a few years and I had been wanting one since Jeff and I got married. I grew up with a beagle mix that was probably the smartest and most intuitive dog ever born (no, really) and after he died at the age of 18, I got a really stubborn, belligerent dachshund. That one lived 14 years. So, I was not without dog experience. When we finally decided to start looking for a dog, we went to shelters, looked at ads, went online but just couldn't find what we wanted. We knew we wanted an indoor dog and we wanted either a beagle or dachshund. Then one night I did an online search and found an ad for a "schneagle". A combination beagle and mini schnauzer. I thought it was a cute made-up name but wondered why they didn't call him a bauzer. That at least sounded funnier than schneagle. Abigail walked into the room just as I was looking at the picture and right away asked if we could go check him out. After exchanging emails, we went to the bank and then to look at this dog. The nice family that had him said his mom was a beagle and the dad was the schnauzer. They put the puppy in Abigail's arms and she was practically shaking as she said to me "Mom, I just love him so much." Of course, that's all it took. Sales people everywhere could make millions simply by putting their wares in the arms of a 10 year old and have them look up with their cute eyes and tell their parents how much they love---fill in the blank. I asked the man "so you're asking $100?" A price I was totally prepared to pay just because my daughter was still shaking with her love for this dog. He said "we'll take $50 for him. We're not in this to make money. We just want to cover some of the cost." At the time I thought he meant the cost of food, shots etc. Now I know he probably meant he wanted to cover the cost of a pair of shoes the cute little puppy had eaten. He told us his name was Clifford but of course, we could change it to whatever. We gave him his money, got a little bag of food and drove off. Abigail decided within 2 minutes that his name would be Jake. He looked like a Jake. And it was so much better than the other possible names she was thinking of on the way there. Names like Aden and Jason. Those are not dog names. And that's how we got Jake.