The stomping ground of Ramsay the Dachshund!

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Being a dog-mom is tough...

So, New Mama here for a long-awaited post. I haven't felt very inspired to write of late.

This dog-owning thing is really hard. I'm not going to lie. I have never had a pet. For real. In my 27.5 years on Earth, I've not really had a pet. We had an occasional fish. My brother had a box turtle or two. I don't count the rabbit you read about in an earlier post. So, here I am. Girl with dog (and husband).

I didn't realize that you could love a four-legged furball so much. His puppy kisses - even with puppy breath - are the sweetest thing around. His snuggles are epic. I love coming in from our walkies and snuggling on the couch under the big blanket. These are the times I cherish. Well, these and bathtime. He is too cute during bathtime.

But, there are hard parts, too. When he whines and wants to play when I have charts to work on, I just want to either scream or cry. I want to be able to devote 100% of my time to him, but I just can't. Residency won't let me. The charts won't get done by themselves. And, try as he might, Ramsay's paws don't mix well with a computer keyboard.

The worst part is the potty training. He does well ANYWHERE but our house. At my mom's, he's perfect. Each poop or pee is on a pad. But, at home, it seems like anywhere is fair game. Most of the time, it's near misses of the pee pads. Sometimes it's total failure. Like when I come in from work to find that he has pooped on a pad, only to step in it and traipse it through his entire Ramsay Rompin' Room. That is hard. Especially after a long day.

But, I guess the good outweighs the bad with our little gentleman. Docsdox is being great about my difficulty adjusting to being a dog-mom. He knows that I am working on being the best mom to Ramsay. I just hope my little man realizes it.

But, regardless, I love the little weiner. Simple as that.

2 comments:

firstyouleap said...

So glad you are sharing how difficult it is when our cuties relieve themselves all over the house! I got Jeeves when he was 1 yr old and housebroken for a house with a yard out in the land with no sidewalks--I have a condo in an elevator building.
So big adjustment! I learned where to put his puppy pads but I haven't been able to stop his problems peeing on the carpet although it is much rarer now. At the heart of it is that he is a marker. So I think you have a good sign that Ramsay will at some point behave at home the way he does at other people's houses.
Keep us posted! BTW, Jeeves sighs heavily when the laptop or Kindle come out. He settles down if he can lay on my lap or stick his nose in somewhere--but he also can add his two cents by batting my hand on the keyboard (like a cat!)
Melinda

New Mama said...

Hi Melinda -

So, I must not be alone, huh? It is definitely good to hear that this is all normal puppy stuff. I hope that Jeeves figures it out. What a change it must have been for him to go from house/outside to apartment living. But, I'm sure he'll get used to it! For Ramsay, it's more of the "we aren't home for so long during the day so we can't crate you" thing. We work such long hours, so he needs some freedom. We recently got a new odor remover from Petco that is also a peeing repellent. It is the Petco brand, and it seems to be working very well for Ramsay.

-Kelley