Soon Harmit and Piyush left, and Eevie and I had each other for company again. Eevie was not a shy one anymore, at least not with me. Her full personality was in complete bloom. And like a puppy, she was naughty, curious and prone to get in troubles.
I was reading and learning a lot about puppies. I haven’t heard of zoomies yet, but then witnessed it first hand. It’s an unexpectable burst of energy when a dog runs in circle or spins around repetitively. As a puppy she had a lot of them. Her energy was definitely not channelized much as she was still not allowed outside. She would get two of these everyday like clockwork and I could only watch her hoping she wont hurt herself.
She was also teething now so she would chew on everything that was not supposed to be chewed on. Furniture, castor wheels on my table, walls lining, couch leather, everything was fair game. I bought so many chewable toys, but she had no interest in them. I wasn’t worried about things and would let her chew on household things if it wasn’t harmful for her. I read somewhere, wood splinter can cause mouth or even intestine injury in dogs and I had to be constantly on my toes to discourage this behavior. I bought a citric based repellant spray, but that would work only for few minutes and she would be at it again.
She was still sleeping in crate. But once she was in crate, I had to walk on tip-toes as she would want to come out if she sees me awake. I wouldn’t go to kitchen or prepare food or eat much as I would constantly worry about her. I think I lost some pounds due to not eating properly during that time.
I found a vet for her near me and scheduled initial exam for her. She was very scared when she was in the car. I thought all dogs enjoyed car-ride, but not this one. When we went inside, she peed on me. Pee on shirt, pant, shoes everywhere. She kept some in reserve for vet table and basically left her DNA everywhere she could. Good news was she was deemed healthy and would be given shots in due time.
I had a vacation planned before adopting her and was wondering where can I leave her. Had I adopted her earlier, I might not have planned. But now I was in a pickle as she was too young to leave with my friend since puppies are a lot of work and responsibility and she still didn’t have her rabies shot done, so a lot of pet-hotel declined. Finally, I came across a site called Bark team and posted there if someone can accommodate her while I’m away. I received one reply and trainer asked me to meet him along with Eevie.
We both went there and he analyzed Eevie and gave us a quote. Quote was expensive, but he guaranteed housebreaking and work for free if that didn’t work. I understand puppies are a lot of work and trainer came with very high credential , so we agreed. My friend joked that with this much money, Eevie should dance like Michael Jackson, or she should walk on water, or she should serve me water when I come home. He also said that trainer should give us money to leave such a cute dog in his care. If that could be the case, every dog would have free training everywhere. All jokes apart, it was decided she would live with the trainer for whole month. Trainer discouraged any contact with Eevie during that time as she would be homesick and it would set the training few days back.
These were the dark days for me. With puppy you get a lot of love, but also get your share of bad days. Those days are full of frustration, while puppy is adjusting to you and your home, you are also adapting to her personality. You think about your abilities to handle her, your 60% worries are related to her bowel movements, 20% are what if she hurts herself and rest of the time is spend in reading about dogs, training, treat, toys, food, socialization, teething and what nots. You spend hundreds if not thousands and still feel you are lacking something. It’s definitely a lot of work and every morning when you see your puppy alive and healthy, it feels like an achievement.
I had stopped doing everything for me, painting, meeting friends, reading, sleeping was out of the way and Eevie has squatted on every part of mind and I was exhausted. And though I’m ashamed to admit, but this was the truth that I was looking forward for my vacation without having to think about Eevie.
Not all experiences with your pet are filled with joy. Like every relationship it’s filled with ups and downs and this combination of good , bad and ugly is what makes a bonding stronger. Learn more about our bonding in upcoming posts.
Drop your not so good experience in the comments below. It would be great to know that I’m not alone in this dark alley. 🙂
Musings of a Book Savant 
She is cute ☺️
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