Puppies

So when people used to tell me having a puppy was like having a baby and I'd scoff because babies are PEOPLE and puppies are DOGS.  I still see that distinction, but I can now also totally see the parallels.  Let's explore:
Babies get you up at night. They need to eat and be changed.  You sleepily feed them and change them and if you are reallllllly lucky you can sleep for a few hours before waking up again.  I still remember this phase and it is very very hard, and completely harder than puppydom, so if you are in the middle of the newborn phase please don't take this the wrong way.  Puppies get you up at night.  They have to pee.  You have to get up, get shoes, meander outdoors and stand there while you wait for them to do their business, and then if you are lucky, they fall asleep and you can do the same.

Actually, I never ever thought I'd be so in tune with the bathroom habits of an animal. It's all consuming.  I was never actually good at potty training.  It eventually got done.  Right now we do pretty well, as long as I am very nearly OCD about what the dog is doing.  We spend a LOT of time outside.  Figuring out how to get her to "ask out" is eluding me.  I have several doggie training books on hold at the library. If books can't fix it I don't know what can!  It's not bad but I am a very type B personality, and if I have to obsess about stuff for too long it takes a toll on me. 

The rest of living with a baby dog is more like having a two year old than a newborn.  They like to chew, they love to get into stuff. Just when you thought you had everything picked up, you find them chewing on something that you missed (this may be exacerbated by the 4 boy factor.) And the energy! She runs like lightning. Then two seconds later she's out like a light. Yep, much like a little 2 year old.

But despite it all she's CUTE! And we are all a little smitten with the new little creature in our family.