Puppy: Day One
Madoff
Maybe it’s just me, but picking up my First Dog Ever seemed a major event to me. I’ve been reading so many Puppies for dummies-books that they started giving me nightmares (NOOOOO, don’t cuddle the puppy when it needs to go to sleep! It’ll turn it into a monster!!)
My sister in law, luckily, is a vet, so I’m relying heavily on her expertise. She recommended a book by Dutch pet expert Martin Gaus. Now, growing up, Martin Gaus was always a bit of a joke. He has a show about pets and I mostly know the bloopers where he gets bitten by a dog or kicked by a horse. Very funny, but not someone I’d take seriously. Still, if the Voice of experience tells me to read his book, I say ‘How high’, so I read his book, twice. The prose is TERRIBLE, but what he says about puppies makes a lot of sense.
Still after reading all the do’s and don’ts it feels a bit like I got a second job, rather than a pet. Guess if you take this, times a hundred, that’s how a new parent must feel. Nope, really not having any kids ever. I simply couldn’t deal with the stress!
Anyway, went to pick up the puppy, carrying a smelly old sweater and a plastic bag and some toilet paper, just in case, just as Martin told me to, and I was all nervous and ready for an emotional scene. Not my Spanish gas station man! He saw me, smiled faintly, grabbed the pup, pushed her into my ready arms and said ‘There you go’. And that was that.
Not quite the emotional scene I envisioned but hey, I got my first dog, and Suerte (I’m still leaning towards Madoff, think it would make a good dog’s name, what do you think?) (I have to decide, because apparently I have to start bonding immediately with Dog and using its name will help a lot) is snoring away in the sun. A lot of noise for such a small pup!
