Hold on to your collars, faithful readers!
There’s big news at the Terry household — Hubby and I got a new puppy.
I can’t start to describe the undeniable cuteness overload our new fuzzy, soft, baby girl has brought into our lives.
Faithful readers will recall our beloved one-eyed Jack Russell Terrier died in March 2022 at age 15, after taking Delightful Granddaughter, Hubby and I on many unforgettable adventures.
For a long time, we didn’t believe we could ever replace him.
Then, a couple of months ago, Hubby discovered Dream Land Doodles in Jefferson. Their female Cavalier Spaniel ‘married’ their male poodle, resulting in a litter of Cavapoos! We watched them grow via Facebook.
When the pups turned six weeks old, we went to meet them in person.
When I held the tiny, fluffy ball of joy, my heart instantly melted into a puddle of goo. Suddenly, all my worries seemed to flutter away.
We picked a curly haired girl with brown ears and a white coat except for a small brown spot at the base of her tail.
She’s so cute!
Delightful Granddaughter, who has come over to visit every day since we got the puppy, named her Adalaide, but we call her Lady.
If I had known a puppy would get Delightful Granddaughter to visit us more often, I would have gotten one sooner!
But as with all good things, there’s a catch — puppy mischief.
To start, we said good-bye to a good night’s sleep. Just like having a human baby, our peaceful nights are now interrupted with cries from our pup.
When Lady is awake, her enthusiasm for running around chewing on everything never ends. Goodbye, Crocs; hello slobbery sneakers.
When she’s on the couch, Lady likes to showcase her Olympic jumping skills by using Hubby’s belly as a trampoline.
There’s another problem — whenever I hold Lady, she smothers me with kisses. This makes Britney, our 11-year-old, border collie, so mad. She growls and lays her ears back.
We keep petting Britney and showering her with extra affection but since Lady arrived, she’s in a bad mood.
The final straw was when Lady grabbed Britney’s stuffed ‘baby’ toy, shook it, did a somersault over it and pranced over to Hubby with it in her mouth.
Britney growled and barked at Lady.
Lady barked back! It was a tiny bark, actually more of a squeak.
I am certain Lady’s bark said, “Why so grouchy? I just want to play.”
Britney wasn’t having any of it.
As for my tidy home, it’s been transformed into a puppy paradise of squeaky toys, chew toys, blankets, stray socks and an occasional puppy puddle.
Just when I thought it was safe to walk barefoot, I find myself engaging in a ballet routine of dodging chew toys while trying not to lose my balance. (Faithful readers recall I have difficulty staying vertical.)
Come dinner time, Lady turns our house into a circus. Suddenly, our food is the most tempting thing in the world.
Then there’s potty training. It is like trying to decipher a foreign language. She drinks some water — hurry! Take her outside. She eats a little bit of food — hurry! Take her outside and so on.
“Go potty, go potty,” we repeat as we carry her outside to walk and stop, walk and stop, hoping for results.
Once and awhile we strike gold and reward her with a piece of cheese, but most of the time, our dance routine falls on deaf ears.
Why go potty, when there are so many other interesting things for a curious pup to investigate outside?
But these are all small prices to pay for the unconditional love and happiness our new four-legged companion brings into our lives. In the end, no matter how many chewed up socks or nighttime wake-up calls we endure, the joy she brings eclipses every mishap.
If you find yourself considering getting a new puppy, prepare for a whirlwind of laughs, frustrations and affection. Embrace the chaos and don’t forget to take lots of photos and videos to reminisce about these memories later on.
Photos and movies of Darwin keep us laughing, although sometimes we cry because we miss him, but we treasure the time we had with that sweet pup.
Staff writer Shelley Terry promises to keep faithful readers up to date on her many happy puppy adventures. You can reach her at [email protected].