NB: This is a post about our new dog! It's largely dog-related and may go into a little too much detail for the non-dog-lover to give a shit about. I just thought you should know.
As most of you know, I've wanted a dog for nearly 7 years now, ever since I discovered that it was CATS, demon CATS and not dogs that I was allergic to. When I lived with a roommate, getting a dog seemed unwise. When I first shacked up with Katr, our condo building did not allow pets. But when we moved to Vancouver last fall, getting a dog was near the top of my list of priorities.
And this weekend - my doggy dream came true. Meet Emma (whose name will probably change at some point but not now, 'cause we're too stressed out)!
Isn't she the sweetest little Chinese Shar Pei you ever saw? So rumply in the face! Doesn't she look peaceful, all curled up there on the floor, miles away from the nice bed we bought her? Mmmm.
The long yellow thing is a duck. She hates this duck.
Emma is three years old and we got her from the TnT Shar Pei Rescue. These shar pei people - SO NICE. Meeting them - getting the low down on the mighty shar pei breed - having them over so they can make sure we're not crazy jerks - it's all been a great experience. Which brings us to today.
Yeah, I'm not going to lie to you guys - we are nervous wrecks. I have no doubt that our general lack of dog experience and also lack of sleep are the main contributors to our overwraughtness. No matter how many books you read and how many episodes of The Dog Whisperer you watch, nothing really prepares you for being a BIG FREAK when the dog actually materializes and you have to deal with it.
To be fair, it's not like young Emma has done anything super crazy. I mean, she was a barking, whining, door-scratching mess for about 15 minutes after her foster parents left and then she settled into a pattern of checking one balcony, checking the other balcony, checking the door, checking us and starting again. Then, after we took her for a longish walk yesterday, she snoozed the afternoon away. But last night the poor thing kept waking up and barking up a storm, presumably because she was disoriented. She wouldn't sleep in our room and I ended up on the couch in the living room. The wrong move? Probably. But at 2:00 a.m., few alternatives presented themselves. Sigh.
Going into this, we knew that Emma:
- Didn't like dudes - hey, good match!
- Didn't like to hang out outside too much - hey, like us!
- Occasionally barked at the foster mom's loud teenage son - hey, no problem. We have no loud teenage son!
- Is very good around non-teenage boys and is not dog aggressive - hey, sweet!
- Followed her foster mom everywhere - and now she follows me! Good times!
- Doesn't care for toys - reeeeeeeeaaaaaaaally? Who doesn't like toys?? (Hint: our new dog Emma)
All of these things are true, except that she also barks at flies and, once today, at me. Also, her foster parents live in a quiet, suburban area and they said that when they brought her into town, she perked right up. But now I'm wondering if all the city noise (not to mention the fucking loud-speaker-laden DragonBoat Festival on across the street this weekend) isn't just stressing her out. Also, she LOVES cars and tries to climb into every one she sees, whether it's stationary or moving, which, you know - that's not good. At least she really seems to be enjoying licking herself. That's important to a dog.
What's my point? My point is that it's Day Two and we're already losing our shit. We're trying to be calm, assertive pack leaders here, people. And I feel like we've done our best so far to be consistent with our behaviour and still give her space, because shar peis like that. And I'm PRETTY sure I'm just being kind of a sleep-deprived wuss about the occasional barking and whining and that once I've slept, I won't feel like I'm having an anxiety attack. But we are feeling very ill-equipped and unsure how to proceed. Should we walk her more? Less? Keep her on a leash with us all the time? Leave her alone? Will the pot brownie help? After all this excitement, am *I* the one who's not dog-appropriate??
So hey, dog owners and lovers - please, please help us out. Share your new dog settling-in stories and tips!! We thank you - Emma thanks you - and that poor, neglected duck thanks you.
