Getting a dog

So… ever thought about getting a new barking friend? Well think twice before actually doing, because what seems like such a simple task might become one of your scariest dreams.

I’ve always been a dogs lover, I remember having my little dog (and when I say “my” I actually mean my brother’s) since I was born until I was about 7 years-old. And let me tell you that little princess had a long wonderful life. 19 amazing human years. I have very few memories with and of her but I love every one of them. So, after she passed away my family never wanted any other dog (although we had chickens, fish, birds, pigeons, my little bunny, and, I swear on my life, more than 50 cats in total) and I’ve always wished I could grow up, get my own house and get me a lovely dog – I decided I wanted a golden retriever named Bifana (which is a typical Portuguese food that consists in meat with a sauce on bread) when I was 12 and I didn’t change my mind on that even though it still didn’t happen.
LONG STORY SHORT last Summer I was an annoying girl with my boyfriend because I reminded him much probably every day that I wanted a dog. Which was when we actually started pondering the situation and we came to deal that in September we would get in touch with some friends that volunteer in a dogs/cats foundation to see if they had any new puppys there. After a lot of talking, in October we visited the shelter and let me tell you, it’s heart warming seeing that all those dogs had a chance to be rescued and get treated and fed but it’s also heartbreaking the amount of dogs there without a proper home. I know they still have it much better than those on the streets but it still gets me a knot in my throat. After a few days, perhaps a week or two, after visiting the dogs we had all settled down to adopt our dog.

So, on the 5th of November we were all ready to welcome Gaara to his new home (yes we named him after a Naruto character and no it wasn’t my boyfriend’s idea). Little did we know the all the trouble we would have…
Let me start by saying that we had little to no experience since we were both very young when we had our own dogs and we had no idea what owning a dog actually meant.

We were both overhyped with the idea of having a new little buddy and everything was ok… in the first hour or so. Until the first time he decided to poop and pee on the hall floor. Which was… not so ok. As I said we weren’t very used to having a dog and as you can imagine the little guy who had been in the shelter for about the first 3  months of his life got used to poop and pee whenever he wanted and wherever he wanted. It took our inexperienced selves about 2 or 3 days to teach him where he should actually do that and we’re quite content with that (he’s such a fast learner).

When getting a dog, you also have to be aware that dogs are needy pals and you’ll have to adapt your schedule to them, so we always make sure we are on time to give him his meals and that we spend enough time with him. It’s hard leaving a puppy home alone especially after the first time he found the Wi-Fi cable and bit it, and the second time, and the third time (yes you won’t even imagine how much those 3 times cost us, but don’t you worry we’ve found a solution so it won’t happen again). We were never prepared to get home and see holes on socks and my favourite 4 panties completely destroyed and the typical “homework” (but in this case, bills) but it happened and I can say we’re now prepared to anything. We make sure that the only thing he can destroy now are empty bottles of water or iced tea because he loves playing with them.

After a month or so, with the help of family, we decided to vaccinate him (and OH MY those are exepensive as hell). This is something very important everyone should also be aware about. If you want to have a dog make sure you have all the conditions to treat him. We starting teaching Gaara to pee and poop when we go on a walk after he took all his vaccines (and it’s been success).

I think we’re getting much better at owning a dog and dealing with the fact that they are needy friends that want a lot of attention and play with everything they can. And also, stealing food. No matter how much we feed him he’ll always ask for our food and everything he sees as an opportunity he tries it. Whether it’s trying to reach the kitchen counter and stealing whatever’s in there or catch everything you let fall on the floor. It all gets easier with time and habit… and patience (a LOT of patience).