Hello! My name is Harlow, and I’m a lovable 9-week-old Australian Shepherd mix staying with a foster home through Smiley Dog Rescue.
Today I met Claudine and Danny in Lafayette, and there’s nothing more I’d like to do than go home with them and sniff and discover and learn and play.
From the way they fawned over me at the adoption event today, I get the impression they feel the same way. I just hope their landlord likes me too!
Yay! The landlord thinks I’m cute! Now we’re just waiting on paperwork and a successful home visit! Smiley Dog takes such good care of me. They want to make sure that my new home will be a safe, happy place for me, and I appreciate it!
Claudine and Danny come to pick me up tomorrow! I’m so excited I think I’m going to pee on the floor!
I’m home! And I have peed on the floor! I’m also starting to understand “sit” and “down”! I am so smart! S-M-R-T! Smrt smrt smrt smrt!
We’ve made it to Sunday, and everyone’s still alive. Not completely full of life, but definitely still alive.
So far, Claudine and I have been getting intermittent sleep at night, and haven’t really had much of a chance for naps during the day, even though Harlow takes plenty of them. Her naptime is generally the only time we have to do things like eat and wash our laundry, because when Harlow’s awake, our world currently revolves around her.
Harlow, on the other hand, is adjusting better than we are. Now that she’s getting comfortable in her new surroundings, she’s starting to get a little more vocal (we didn’t hear a single bark or growl in the first 24 hours) and she gets excited now when she wants to play. She doesn’t bother us when it’s our mealtime, but she does let us know when it’s time for us to feed her or take her outside to potty.
The whole potty thing: that’s an ordeal. We really, really want to take her around the corner to Alamo Square, but a number of people have instilled in us a very strong, real, rational fear of parvovirus. At least, we think it’s a rational fear. What this means is that we aren’t supposed to allow her to be on the ground in places where unfamiliar dogs do their thing, but at the same time, we aren’t supposed to allow her to go in the backyard unless it’s an emergency because it’s illegal to do so in a shared building. So for the next two months while she’s completing her shots, where’s she supposed to shit?
Confession: At first, we were taking her in the backyard anyway, but the last thing we want is our pet addendum revoked, so we’ve found a new (still illegal) place for her to go that doesn’t break our lease. How long can we keep this up?
On a brighter note, Harlow has a solid sense of where her beds are in the house, and when when come in from outside, she shoots straight for them. We’ve been keeping one in the kitchen in a puppy pen and another in the bedroom in her crate, and she seems equally comfortable in both of them. Even in such a short time, she’s embraced them as her “safe places”. We’re really happy about that.
What a week it’s been. Today, it’s 3pm on a Sunday afternoon, and I’ve just gotten up from a short nap - I in my bed and Harlow in her crate - both in the bedroom. The last couple of days have been a little surreal because, yes - as Danny mentions below - our lives have completely revolved around Harlow since we took her home last Friday, July 14th. And it’s possible that most of our energies for the past week have been directed around her - this one little black-and-white pup with the wide brown eyes, speckled ears and silky fur.
From obtaining the proper Pet Addendum to our lease (which is surprisingly generous) to the Smiley Dog Home visit to trips to various pet stores for food, toys, grooming products, beds, and snacks, we were defnitely impatient in our anticipation.
And finally, she was ours.
Her schedule so far consists of: sleeping, eating, taking short walks to go potty, playtime and treats, and napping. Repeat. I’m thankful to be raising her with another person.
At night, I’ve been waking around 3:30am to take her outside, and she’s usually up around 6:30am or 7am.
We have rolled up our red rug in the living room since it appeared to be particularly appealing as a “potty place” to Harlow. There is a large puppy pen in the kitchen, and assorted dog toys and appurtenances strewn about all over the apartment. We’ve learned that she is a bit scared of the cars that flow down our very busy street and that she likes nice, sheltered and mulchy “brush” (dead leaves, fennel bushes, hay…) to “do her thing.”
I eagerly await the day that we’re able to take her to the park.
Yes, we do.
quasistoic (9:50:36 AM): and then puppydaddy took
Harlow to the backyard to potty
quasistoic (9:50:43 AM): and she went #1 and #2
ClaudineRC (9:50:48 AM): whee!
ClaudineRC (9:50:54 AM): good harlow!
quasistoic (9:51:35 AM): and the hippie with the long hair
came out and told daddy he can’t walk Harlow out there
because it attracts flies and creates a health hazard.
ClaudineRC (9:51:44 AM): doh!
quasistoic (9:52:23 AM): and so daddy told him about
Parvo and that it kills puppies and the backyard is the
safest place that Harlow can potty and we can’t wait for
the day we can bring her to the park.
quasistoic (9:52:44 AM): and the hippie said “Okay, then.
That’s a good excuse. I guess that’s okay.”
ClaudineRC (9:52:52 AM): *whew*
ClaudineRC (9:53:02 AM): thank goodness for the
hippyness of the hippie.
quasistoic (9:53:23 AM): and then the hippie never
bothered Harlow’s mommy and daddy ever again. And
everyone lived happily everr after. The End.
ClaudineRC (9:53:44 AM): YAY!
Daddy took me to meet someone new today. It was fun, and I was very very very good, or so Daddy said, along with the nice people at Blue Cross Pets. I didn’t even make a fuss when they gave me my 3rd set of DHLPP vaccine (this means that in a few weeks, after I get my 4th and final series of shots, I get to go to the park! … or so Mommy and Daddy say…). Daddy also said that technically, puppies usually need only 3 DHLPP vaccinations, but because I was so young when I received the 1st, it may not have been as effective since I still had my (biological) mommy’s antibodies protecting me.
(I did think that it was a little weird when the guy in the white lab coat stuck something up my butt, though. (Daddy calls it a thermometer.) But Daddy was there to hold me and give me treats so it was ok.)
quasistoic (11:19:54 AM): okay. 11:30 and I can finally start work.
ClaudineRC (11:20:09 AM): mowr.
quasistoic (11:20:51 AM): our puppy decided the first thing she
was going to do this morning was eat through all
of the phone cords under my desk.
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