This weekend we saw the cutest little puppy, which set me to reminiscing. We adopted Geege when he was a few days from three, and who the hell knows how old Mae was when we got her...her old owners told us two, but my vet says she thinks she's much older than that. Gus is the only dog we had as a puppy...and his puppy behavior is probably why it was more palatable to us to adopt non-puppies after that. Gus was hell on wheels as a puppy and to be honest he's still hell on wheels now, so it's definitely a factor of his personality.
Don't get me wrong, I adore puppies - they're mischievous and roly poly and a ton of fun and cute as all get out - but I love to pet and hug and love them and then walk away while someone else cleans up their messes and deals with the massive destruction they can unleash.
Some things I wish I knew about puppies but only found out after I had one:
1. Puppies can have their days and nights mixed up like human babies. Exhibit A: puppy Gus. This dog got up at 3 a.m. every night for six months and was up for the day. MFD did not get up with him. I did. And I hated every second of it.
2. A bored puppy is more destructive than the tasmanian devil. When Gus was 10 months old, we decided to liberate him from his cage and gate him in our postage stamp size kitchen. One day I came home at lunch to let him out and found every blessed thing in the cabinets destroyed. Rice packets, pasta, flour, sugar, tin foil, plastic wrap...every single thing was ripped apart and destroyed. I stood there gaping and snapped a photo with my, you know, flip phone, so I no longer have photographic evidence. He did this again when I was away for work and my Mom went over to let him out. He didn't only destroy the kitchen...he ate every freaking thing in his path. He was insane.
3. They can't walk on leashes until you teach them. Gus had zero interest in walking around the neighborhood. It did not occur to me that he had no idea HOW to walk on a leash.
Have you ever had a puppy? What surprised you about them?
