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Five Weeks

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For the last few years my husband has been wanting to get a dog and I have said no. My reasoning to him was this: Unless we can afford to get shots, vet bills, and licensing it is not fair to get a dog. Not to mention not having a fenced yard. I also know how much responsibility is involved with getting a pet. Time it takes to house train, leash train, etc. and having to worry about what you are going to do with the dog if you decide to go on any overnight vacations.

I have had more than my share of dogs over the years, not to mention having worked in an Animal Shelter a few years ago. I have seen too many people get pets without counting the cost, and not just financially, of having a pet. People who do not research what kind of dog or any other animal that would be a good fit for their family and their lifestyle. All breeds of dogs have different temperaments, excitement and energy levels. Some require more patience and work than others. Some are great with children and some not so much.

As you can see, I eventually "lost" the battle. Not that I am complaining, Maggie is a great puppy and I love her to death! She is smart, entertaining and of course incredibly stubborn!

My step-daughter came to live with us last June. She was not doing very well living with her mom, failing school, not coming home when she was suppose to, talking back, and beginning down a road of negative friendships. Carie was 12 when she got here. Her 13th birthday was in February and of course she said the ONLY thing she really wanted for her birthday was a puppy! Just the excuse my husband needed to begin insisting it would be great to have a dog again especially now that we are buying the house and can actually have a pet.

For months before Carie's birthday the topic came up, and she kept saying she wanted to get a puppy. I told her and her dad the same thing: we can't afford a puppy right now, we don't have a fenced yard, and it's a lot of responsibility.

She talked to her Grandmother in California and told her all she wanted was a puppy for her birthday but I kept saying no and her dad sort of said no. I don't know for a fact, but I am pretty sure her grandmother told her daddy (her son) he should get his daughter a puppy. Because it wasn't long after they had both talked to her on the phone they kept trying to talk me into it.

Finally, a couple of weeks before her birthday I told them both, "Fine, I have expressed my concerns about getting a puppy and I am against the idea right now, but we all know you are going to get one anyone. So here is the deal, I WILL NOT be the one responsible for cleaning up after it, not in the house and absolutely NOT outside." Every time in the past when we have had pets I have ended up being the one that has done the majority of the cleaning up after, caring for and playing with. That was NOT going to happen this time.

On the way to look at some puppies a friend of my son had, I again told my husband, "You better count the cost of having a dog. I will be watching Kellen (my grandson) in March and I will be going to Indy to pick him up and to take him home. The puppy is going to be completely your responsibility when I am gone. You better make sure you have money set aside to get her all her shots, her licence and to get her fixed." (We were pretty sure we were going to get a female pup.) Of course my husband said, "I know I know. It will be fine don't worry about it." Yeah....right I thought to myself!

So we ended up deciding on Maggie, she was from a litter of six puppies. The mom is a brindle pit and dad is a boxer. Although everyone who has ever seen Maggie has thought she was a lab. The vet said it is possible her daddy is not the same daddy to the other pups in the litter. I did not know there could be more than one dad to a litter of pups!

I was a little concerned because the puppies were just five weeks old and most pups are not taken away from their mom until they are at least six to eight weeks old. But they had already taken away from mom, the owners (irresponsible as far as I am concerned) put the pups on dog food and stopped letting mom nurse them. Which is probably one reason Maggie even today wants to suck on my husband and son's thumb. (Which of course they have let her).

I asked the vet about this and she basically said it won't hurt anything but do they really want to be letting her do that when she's an 80lb adult dog?? Because whatever behavior you allow when they are pups will carry over into adult age. I've never let her suck on my thumb and she knows its not an option. My husband, yeah he still lets her so does Chris.

Any way, of course because I am the one home all day I have ended being the one that had to clean up after her during the house training days. She flat out refused to go outside with all the ice and snow on the ground. I actually have a video of her going out to the first step then turning around and running directly back into the porch! But then she was not even six weeks old and it was only 15 degrees outside so couldn't blame her there.

I will give my husband credit for one thing, he did actually get up on the middle of the night with her. I tried to tell him she was going to be just like having a new baby, and just like human babies puppies wake up to eat and go to the bathroom every couple of hours. Needless to say he was pretty tired in the morning when he went to work. No I did not feel the least bit bad for him. I would simply say, "I told you to count the cost" before getting a puppy!

We began watching the Dog Whisperer and have faithfully been watching and trying to really follow what he says. I have to say I love that show and am amazed at the gift he has with dogs. When we first got Maggie I was a little concerned because she is part Pit bull. They seem to have a bad reputation, although I have always believed most dogs become "bad" because their owners are ignorant. However, there was still a little bit of concern. But I believe the good Lord allowed us to get a dog that would be good for our family, I believe that because once I realized we were getting a dog regardless of how I felt about it, I prayed and ask Him to please make sure we got a dog that would be a good fit for us and that would be gentle and obedient. And she will be obedient with training, she is right now to a point.

Maggie sleeps with my husband and I, another thing  I tried to warn my husband about from the beginning. She is tiny and cuddly but when she gets bigger you are going to regret it. And of course he does because already she hogs the bed, and she still has a lot of growing to do!

All in all aside from the inconvenience and frustration with the rest of my family sometimes, I am glad we got Maggie. She is a real cutie and has so much personality! She is very smart and has learned to sit and lay down. We're working on walks, teaching her that she is not walking us, we are walking her! She will get it eventually.

My husband said the other night we should get Maggie a playmate...to which I answered..."I DON'T THINK SO!