Puppies are cute, puppies are small. Puppies give you love and joy above all. But puppies also give you hell. There’s poo, there’s peeing on you, nothing is safe from being chewed in your home. The bottom line, baby dogs are like, well, babies. And everything from house training through to mealtime is a stinky but cute mess.
And don’t think that you’ll get away without at least one pair of good shoes being reduced to a teething rag. Because it’s gonna happen, and you can’t get mad. Because after all, you chose to welcome the dog into your life.
Puppies are irresistible in a way that is hard to describe because, just like with a human baby, the love is unconditional and the dependency is absolute. But you can strap on a nappy to junior and camp cost him or her for a moment of peace. Well, baby dogs don’t do nappies. Even though we tried. Because believe it or not, there is such a thing. But the novelty soon wore off when the perfect pair of canine terrorists ripped them off one another. It did make for a cute social media post, though.
Nothing is safe from a puppy
Did you know that when you take a puppy outside for a pee and a poo, they will not do their business until they get back inside? Give them a carpet, a tiled floor. Anything really. Because for some reason messing in the house is more fun than aiming at the right blade of grass for some bladder relief. And just like baby poo, puppies have a special talent for making stinkies.
But dang, they are cute when they clumsily frolic around in the garden. When they bark with their little grrrs and growls.
We have two little puppies.
Puppies also teach kids how to clean up after themselves. Leave anything on the couch or on the floor, and it’s fair game. Popcorn, rusks, toys and even pants. It either becomes a snack or a rag to tug-of-war with. My boys learnt the hard way. Even a glass of Oros is not safe.
Love despite disasters
Puppy proofing your daily grind comes with at least a few hours a day of extra cleaning and scrubbing and then, smiling and hugging and loving them despite the disasters they cause.
Stuff that we unlearn along the way flood back, too. Caring for another being that’s totally dependent on you. It’s a lesson that keeps on giving, from the mop to the doggie chunks. And it removes a good measure of the selfishness that modern living nurtures inside of us.
Puppies are good for the soul, and as they grow up, rapidly, they take us along for an emotional ride that’s always in an upward trajectory. Because love grows with them. Even our grumpy, older and somewhat ginormous dog tolerates them, but snaps just as hard when discipline and annoyance get too much. My cat, a senior rescue, sticks to observing the madness from a sardonic feline measure of cruel enjoyment of the chaos.
Invest in a good poop scoop. Buy them nice food. Don’t overfeed. Play with them, teach them slowly. Socialise the puppies with dogs already at home. Take care of them.
All this reminded me of an SPCA advert that used to air many years ago. It showed some horrible human being boxing up a pair of cute puppies shortly after Christmas and dumping them by the side of the road. It’s a hateful act. But it brings home the notion that if you get a pet, especially a puppy, a kitten or another high-maintenance companion, you need to make sure you know what you are getting into.
Don’t just get another living being for the sake of it. If you are unable to attend to the madness, and love an animal back unconditionally, stick to your doomscrolling.
