rocky ground

note the Hugo paw on Cosmo's haunch, frozen mid-attack.

Another post, another puppy picture!

So, a lot has been going on! Since February I have, in no particular order:

1. Gotten a puppy (I don’t know if you’ve noticed, I’m super quiet about it)
2. Gotten a new job
3. Gotten a new house (well, kind of. I am BUYING a house! But not officially closing till April)
4. Gotten weird stress hives from all the changes (yes, getting a new job and buying a house are stressful enough to eff up my body. Third world problems)

I haven’t written about any of it (especially not the puppy) because it was all kind of in flux. The house had to be inspected, the job had to be kept quiet till I’d given my notice, etc. But it’s all coming together now! Today is my last day at my current job, and today the inspection came through as all clear for the house, so EVERYTHING IS FOR REAL. AAAAAahhhhhhhh. Let’s look at puppy picture instead of thinking about it:

I mean, I’m really excited about it all! The job pays enough to let me BUY a house, it will be much more challenging than my current job, have more opportunities for advancement, and not be run by idiots (sorry current job, but it’s kind of true). And the house thing is terrifying but also exciting. I didn’t realize how sick I was of renting until I was making a pro/con renting vs buying list for Emily, who was trying to decide between the two. Even though I could see the pros of renting, I was like, UGH I  want my “real house” already. Someplace I can buy furniture for without worrying if it will fit in the next rental. Someplace I can paint the walls as much as I want. Someplace I can have five dogs and not pay a deposit. And that someplace is going to be MY place on April 12! AAAAhhhhhh so much money! But it will be good. It will be great! Right?

Despite all the pros, the job thing is crazy making too. Partly because it will be more challenging (there’s a good two weeks of ONLY training), but mostly because it means I won’t be working from home, which is what I’ve been doing exclusively since February. And I LOVE working from home. The other day I was working with Cosmo’s head resting on my leg, and I thought about how soon I would not spend my work day with puppies and it made me get all blubbery. But, one cannot make one’s life decisions SOLELY based on puppies, right?

The gray in the foreground is my sweatpanted leg. This is pretty much my workday right now.

Puppies should only be 80% of the decision, not 100%. Anyway, that was one of the reasons we got Hugo when we did; I knew I was probably gonna get offered this jobby-job, and only would have a month to truly puppertize. So I had to get it all in while I could.

ridin' in the car, not so sure about this "locomoting" thing

Hugo had his first Puppy Preschool class yesterday. It’s in the garage of dude who lives in Nampa (aka, the armpit of Idaho), so not sketchy at all (totally sketchy). I wasn’t so sure about it going in . . . I am a big Positive Training fan, and this trainer buys into that whole dominance/pack crap that I think is outdated and not applicable to all dogs. But his techniques seem to be a mix between the two, and it’s only three classes, so I can always just kind of adapt his methods to my own (because OBVIOUSLY I know more than a professional. Or, at least maybe I know more about my own dog than a dude who runs training out of his garage?). Anyway, it actually went really well. He tries to teach the dogs to not be scared by loud noises, and to get used to small animals and being handled by different people and meeting new dogs. So all basics that puppies need, but I can’t really naturally get him. I mean, this dude took Hugo into a little pen with a chicken, a chinchilla, a pigeon, and a bunny, in order to get him used to little animals and train him not to be too interested in them. I can’t really duplicate that. So yeah, it had it’s pros and cons, and I rolled my eyes a little when he said Hugo trying to put his paw up into my hand when I gave him a treat was him “dominating” me (I think it was just him trying to get his damn treat), but it will hopefully be helpful in making Hugo a well-mannered beast.

not that he isn't already super calm and mellow and good . . .

There was one other puppy there, an adorable 11-week old pit bull. Part of the class is socializing, and just letting them play together and watching for undesirable behaviors. At first I was kind of like eeeeekkkk pit bull (Stephen was attacked by one a few years ago, and I’ve had scary moments with them at the dog park, so I’m not much of a fan) but he was a really sweet pup, and it turns out I wasn’t the one who should be worried because HUGO GROWLED AND SNAPPED AT THE PUPPY. My perfect angel! My sweet fuzzball! Being a jerkface meandog! He only seemed to do it when he was sitting in front of me; if the puppies were puppying kind of in the middle of the room, he was nice. But protecting me from puppies is not in Hugo’s job description. I was mortified. But, y’know, that’s why I’m bringing him to this class. He seems fine with dogs bigger than him: there was a huge Boxer there who he climbed on and cuddled and loved, and he has never been aggressive towards Cosmo, even when Cosmo deserved it. But as far as I know he’s never really been around other puppies (aside from at the pound, I assume, but even then it would’ve been his littermates) or small dogs. So, puppy’s got some socializing to do. The problem is he doesn’t have his full shots yet, so I can’t just go out and take him places to meet dogs; and even when he DOES have some shots, that’s not always possible/safe. I’m thinking of trying to get a puppy craigslist group together . . . just meet in someone’s backyard with our puppies to have them play. But I feel kind of guilty, being like, “I want a puppy who my puppy will attack so I can train him NOT to attack puppies.” Also, craigslist scares me (for meeting people. Buying stuff I’m cool with). So I don’t know, but Hugo is going to be a NICE DOG DAMMIT. He has been until last night, so we’ll see what happens, but I WILL NOT BE A FAILURE AS A DOG MOTHER.

all he wants is cudddles!

There was more to write about, like how my gardening stuff is going and how I acquired a manatee coffee table and how I am going to OWN a house and how awesome the new Springsteen album is and such exciting things. But I have run out of steam and so, here we end. I’m sure I will be all whiny and crazy next week, so there’s that to look forward to!