7 Signs You Have a Puppy

There's a new love in my life.

It's okay, Cindy knows all about her.  In fact, Cindy helped me pick her out.  (bear with... it's not that scandalous)

She's a Havanese puppy and her name is Pixie's Miss Greta Garbo.

It's been years since I've had a puppy in the house, and I've noticed there have been some major changes since a new dog came to live with me.

1. The Location of Your Shoes
If my shoes, slippers, flip-flops, sandals or even boots are on the floor, chances are they won't be there for long. This morning I took off my slippers and as soon as they hit the floor, Greta grabbed one and headed down the stairs. Usually she takes them straight outside where a fun (for her) game of keep-away and run-behind-the-trees follows until I can get the wife to come and help me corner her. Fun times. o_o

I could just keep my shoes put away (ain't nobody got time for that!), but "away" is upstairs and I'm too old and lazy to play that game. So I keep my shoes up. And by up I mean on top of things. Currently there are flip-flops on top of a kitchen stool, another pair on a decorative set of small boxes and yet another pair hidden in the pantry.  (Holy crap I have a lot of shoes!!!)

2. The Prints Formerly Known as Your House
The sliding glass door is a smear of puppy prints. The floor is covered with paw print and gets swept more than the Phoenix suns in a playoff series. The couch, which used to be just a nice solid green fabric, now looks like it's a green-shaded jaguar print. I'm pretty sure there's even a nose-print on my computer screen. This dog would not be a good CSI suspect... leaves WAY too much evidence behind!

3. The Questions
What is that? Where did you get that? What did you do? Where is my shoe? Are you digging a hole?? And what do you have in your mouth???
These are questions that you would also ask a 2 year old. And really, aren't puppies like 2 year old kids? Except with razor sharp teeth? Sometimes I think if a 2 year old and a shark had a baby, it would be a puppy. But I digress.

4. The Toys
From where I sit right now, I can see no less than 7 dog toys. I know that I could walk into any room in the house and see at least that many, and the backyard looks like a toys-r-us threw up.

5. The Potty Talk
I'm sure the neighbors and/or anybody walking by thinks this house has the weirdest people living in it. Not only can they hear the aforementioned questions through the open windows (yay springtime in the PNW!), but at least 3 times a day you can hear my wife in the back yard excitedly saying "What a good potty! What a good girl to go potty outside!"
As if that weren't bad enough, there's also the consistency, frequency, location and amount of poop that has to be tracked. I'm so glad that nobody keeps track of my "schedule" like that!

6. The Fur
The fur that is on... well on everything actually.

"Get a dog that doesn't shed", they said.
"It'll be fun", they said.

Well what they didn't say is Havanese "blow their coat", which means that even a puppy that doesn't shed, sheds. Think of it like a really cuddly rattlesnake shedding it's skin.  On second thought, don't think about that.  It's creepy.

I should stay nice and warm now, cuz I have that double layer of cat hair and dog-that-doesn't-shed hair. I wish my clothes could shed!

7. The Smile
Despite the fur, the 4am wake-up whines, the stolen shoes, the collection of toys that are worth more than my car and even all the poop talk, getting this puppy is one of the best things Cindy and I have ever done (and we've done a lot of good stuff!). She makes us laugh and gives us love. She makes us wake up early, but makes our days and our hearts full.

Much like having real babies, having a puppy sure makes me wonder what the heck I did for entertainment and with my time before I got one.  So tell me, dear reader(s), what difference has having a fur-baby made in your life?

The video that started it all...

How we feel now...