I know how it all begins. You’re completely happy with your one-dog household. It’s just the three of you – you, your spouse and your one decent little dog. She appears on the family Christmas card, at the 4th of July picnic and sleeps calmly at the foot of your bed in the evening. It’s all very picturesque. Things don’t start to go downhill until someone points out that your dog is depressed. You begin to see it, the anxiety in her eyes when you leave for work in the morning, the negative behavior as she strives to attract your attention. Get her a friend, they say. It will fix everything.
You brush the notion aside until one day, you see it – the new puppy. A fluttering, furry little bundle of joy. Your heart is captured and everything just falls into place. You bring her home, introduce the new puppy to your first born dog and they instantly become friends. Your house is filled with excitement and joy, and then it hits you – you’re a two-dog household.
Two dogs?! Does that officially qualify you for crazy dog people status? Can you apply for a farm license yet? Gone are the days of peaceful car rides, and from now on it takes both of you to walk the dogs. What have you done?
When we adopted our second fur baby, there were no less than three times I declared to my husband I would be loading her up and taking her back. I know now that would have been the biggest mistake of my life. Just nine months later she is absolutely a valued member of the family and our life just seems so boring before we adopted her.
But I’m not one to gloss things over, so here’s the honest to goodness truth: the first few weeks are hard. You wonder why you were ever crazy enough to get another one of these “things”. The new puppy has an accident, squeals all night long, and manages to break her leg (although that’s a story for another day). You’re ready to call it quits until you begin to notice some things, like fur baby #1 has started “training” fur baby #2. Which just so happens to be one of my very proudest parenting moments. One night you catch them curled up side by side on the couch, and the next morning the new puppy stares into your eyes with so much love and admiration that every lingering doubt just melts away from your heart and you can’t believe that you ever didn’t want her.
Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a growing experience. You’re looking at twice as much dog hair to lint roll and twice as many baths to give. I think we noticed the biggest difference in the twice as many vet bills! But having twice as much love to greet you when you get home from work? That’s priceless.
