Moment of Truth

We have a new member of the growing family and I find her absolutely cute!  Please welcome…Starla!

I found out earlier this week that the application we put in for a dog was accepted.  I really wasn’t expecting this at all as we were originally told that someone had put in an application before us for Starla, but we got the good news that we were accepted and made arrangements to go see her the day after I got back from D.C.  We went to the Humane Society of Burnett County to visit and fell in love with her.  She was playful, happy, well adjusted to other animals and cute.  What more could you ask for?  Also, her breeding is very interesting.  She’s a Labrador Retriever/Bulldog cross.  If you look at her from a distance, you’ll see Lab, but get up closer and you can see the Bulldog influence in her face.  I’m quite encouraged by this as both Labs and Bulldogs are intelligent dogs that are good with children, obviously very important to both Melanie and I.

Oh, how about another super-cute photo…

Not quite one day in and though it’s gone mostly well, it hasn’t been all roses.  Obviously, being in a new place can be frightening and she’s had a few messes, but we were able to clean them up.  But the good news is that there has also been tremendous progress in less than twenty four hours.  My fantastic in-laws had an extra crate that they were not using and Starla took to it very quickly with a little bit of training.  We were concerned, but we were able to crate her last night with no problems.  Not only that, but she is taking house training very quickly as well.  We expect that there will be a problem or two, but we realize that if Starla does “go inside”, it was our fault as owners, not hers as a dog.

I hear you asking…okay, another photo.

With some yummy treats as well, we’re starting her training.  Just this morning, she was nicely responding to sit commands.

I know the question will come up:  “are you crazy?  You have a kid on the way and you pick now to get a dog?”  And to answer, yes.  Yes, we are crazy.  But actually, I’m starting to see the value in the timing of this right now.  The only thing for timing that didn’t work is that we picked her up on the coldest day of the year (yesterday’s high was just 8° F) and she was hesitant to go outside.  But this is great training for us in particular.  Pretty soon, we’re going to have a baby with some of the very same needs as Starla right now.  The attention and the help we need to give Starla now is great preparation for a child on the way.  I know the needs of a child and the needs of a dog are different, but what I’m referring to is the level of concentration and commitment.

For example, I can’t sleep in whenever I want anymore.  Starla needs to go out/be fed/played with/trained.  I have to plan my day better.  Most of this last month was spent in our office where I would play games on my PC and maybe get a thing or two done…maybe.  Now, I’m in our dining room, keeping an eye on the dog while I do other things.  I have to be aware of other “things”.  Starla likes to chew, so I need to put things up or away.  This is just a small taste, but I feel I’m well on my way to getting a parental awareness.

Anyway, enough about me.  For those of you kept in suspense this week, I hope it was worth the wait.