Abby

This weekend, Nick and I got our new addition.  She has been in our house a short time and she already runs the show.  My sister, Lindsay, and I went to get her on Saturday afternoon.  Nick had to go work for manditory overtime, so Lindsay very kindly rode to New Salisbury with me to bring her home.

I was nervous as we got to the breeders.  As excited as I was for the day to arrive, it scared me too.  I couldn't help but wonder if owning a dog was something we were really ready for.  But once we got to the breeders' house and I picked up this sweet little puppy and she immediately began licking my face, I instantly fell in love.  She was such a good puppy.  She was lovable and while the other two remaining puppies barked and whined, Abby didn't make a sound.

The first evening went well.  Our friends brought their dog Ellie over for a play date and they wore each other out.  Abby did ok the first night, and whined about every hour then would sleep for awhile.  Nick was home with us on Sunday but on Monday I was on my own.  Abby demanded that we get up 5:30 a.m. when Nick got up for work.  It was a long morning.  If I left the room to try to get something accomplished, Abby would be in to something she wasn't supposed to be into.  And she decided she didn't like to go out into wet grass which makes house-breaking a little tricky. Later on, she decided it was too hot to be outside with me while I worked on flowerbeds.   Needless to say she's a bit of a princess.

By today (Wednesday) my carpets were covered in grass and bits of mulch and puppy food and littered with rawhide sticks and puppy toys.  I came home from work with a headache, really worried that I was going to be greeted by the little golden monster that nearly killed my husband and I yesterday.  It was her first day alone, baby-gated into the bathroom and she was as energetic as she is fluffy.  I was nervous again.  I took one look at my house and my headache started to get worse.  My kitchen needed cleaned and I seriously wondered if I'd ever have clean floors again.  I wondered if we'd done the right thing bringing this little beast into our house.

But when I took her outside she immediately took care of business, and once she had wrestled Nick and gotten rid of some of her energy, we started working on 'sit'.  And she looks up at you with her cute little puppy face and smiles and you just can't be mad at her.  We've had a good day, and now we're thinking we just might be able to handle this puppy thing....