Had you asked me a year ago "Would you ever consider getting a dog?", I would have responded with hysterical laughter.
I did not grow up with dogs, so was never a "dog person". In fact, I was always kind of scared of them.
Except for when I was about 6-7 years old, and I was a "pen pal" to a cocker spaniel who lived next door my parent's lake home. His name was Sam, and we would write letters back and forth.
I was a strange child.
On the flip side, my husband loves dogs. He grew up with a dear Golden Retriever named Charlie. Every time we see a Golden while we are out running or hiking, I'd watch Ryan melt a little.
And then one Sunday evening in November, he asked for a dog. My initial response was a vile one. "A dog?!?!?! Have you lost your mind?! I would NEVER get a dog". Then I promised Ryan and I would do my researching and pondering......
And here we are....Meet "Miles"
I did not grow up with dogs, so was never a "dog person". In fact, I was always kind of scared of them.
Except for when I was about 6-7 years old, and I was a "pen pal" to a cocker spaniel who lived next door my parent's lake home. His name was Sam, and we would write letters back and forth.
I was a strange child.
On the flip side, my husband loves dogs. He grew up with a dear Golden Retriever named Charlie. Every time we see a Golden while we are out running or hiking, I'd watch Ryan melt a little.
And then one Sunday evening in November, he asked for a dog. My initial response was a vile one. "A dog?!?!?! Have you lost your mind?! I would NEVER get a dog". Then I promised Ryan and I would do my researching and pondering......
And here we are....Meet "Miles"
And here is how we are coping:
- 1st night home: if I hadn't had to go to work that Saturday, I'm pretty sure we would have returned him back to Phoenix. He howled, wined, and cried the entire night. (and to make matters worse, we had been awake since 3:30 am the previous day, since we traveled from MN to AZ)
- The "crate method" is a God-sent. After that 1st rocky night, he's been great. We get him up every 3 hours to take him outside. He loves his little "room", and we've made it rather pleasant for him with a fluffy bed, abundant chew toys, and a heating pad.
- We have already taught him how to "sit". He's a smart little monster.
- Keeping him crated while we are at work is going okay. Luckily, I am able to come home for 20 minutes in the middle of the day to run him around and love on him.
- Every time he is mischievous and pisses us off, he will immediately do something absolutely lovable and adorable. I think he has us figured out...
- I cannot wait until he is 18 months, and can be our new running buddy! (our vet said "no running" until his bones are developed)
He certainly loves to chew on things...and his favorite chew toys are my shoes. I don't understand this concept. What is so interesting about pumps, slippers, and tennis shoes, when you have a chew toy that sqeaks?
He goes from 100 mph to sound asleep within a split second. I enjoy his brief moments of "sleepiness".
Comments
Also I know they all say to wait until 18 months to run with a dog but I started running with Chloe at about 6 months.. However, for the whole first year I ONLY ran with her in off leash dog trails where she could set her own pace and didn't start regularly running with her on leash until she was a year old. Boxers tend to have hip issues as well but she was such a high energy dog I had to to get her exercise! She's now 3.5 years old and is an awesome running partner - the furthest she's ever ran is 26km, but she's regular done 15 - 20km runs with us in the trails. I usually don't take her for on-leash runs for longer than 10 km though, partly because it's also annoying for me to have her on leash.
Oh and you guys will not regret crate training him either! Best decision ever. Now that Chloe is full grown we leave her alone at the house for 8-9 hours every single day and she's great! The worst she does is get on the couch (which she's not supposed to!)
I love golden retrievers and hope we can get one one day, he's so cute! Congrats :)
Glad he's a snuggler!