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.
