Note: Read the last article in this series here:
Two weeks ago, my husband Che called to say he had a surprise for me. After agonizing all day about it because he gives such amazing gifts, I twiddled my thumbs and watched the clock. My phone rings.
“Babe, can you help me with something, I’m outside.”
After running outside, barefoot, he hands me a dog pillow and a small bag of dog food.
“What is this babe? Where is the dog? Is it in the house?”
When we get inside the house, he said, can you go look in the backyard. I walked outside in the dark and after spotting the blue leash I looked down and immediately started crying. “Oh my God babe!” I startled the little fellow, who backed away from me, but then walked in closer sniffing me.
I carried him into the house and realized that this would be the closest thing I’d have to a baby, the thing is, being a parent to a puppy is almost exactly like having a newborn baby. Who knew that an 8 week old black Labrador, born on my husband’s birthday, would give me such joy?
- You can’t let your puppy out of your sight. Once when Marley was asleep, I went upstairs to get dressed. I came back down to find the entire toilet paper roll ripped to shreds all over the living room.
- They can’t control their bladders or their bowls. We clean up lots of Marley’s fluids and we are working very hard to house train him. I hear that it is a lot like potty training. We’ve got training pads all over the house and we spend more time outside now than we have all summer walking Marley.
- They sleep… a lot. The first week, Marley slept just as much as he played. In fact, I started to ask Che if something was wrong with him because he slept so much. It turns out that he’s growing and there is a noticeable size difference already. He will also fall out asleep anywhere.
- People pay attention. More people speak to us and want to come up to us and ask us about Marley… how old is he? What kind of dog is he? How big will he get. We’re friendly people so we welcome the attention and we’re so obsessed with how cute our new pup is. We love introducing him to little kids, and it helps us to socialize him so that he doesn’t bark uncontrollably or try to nibble on strangers.
- They can’t eat or drink without you. Marley sends nonverbal clues like scratching his bowl or turning it over when he wants our attention. He also whimpers and can now “sit” on command, thanks to treats. He communicates with us non-verbally and we can certainly tell his mood based on his behavior.
Che and I are still actively working on creating Baby Smith and until our little precious baby is here, Marley serves as a wonderful substitute.
Check back every other Wednesday for additional articles in this new series from Donnie Smith – “The Road to Reproduction“ as she chronicles her journey to child birth. View previous articles here.
This is so GREAT!!! My husband and I are currently trying to have a baby! After a year of nothing I’m now on fertility meds. It’s really hard to keep your joy when on this journey. I just told my husband that I was ready for another dog. But after reading this, I think I NEED a dog. Lol thanks for sharing your journey and I look forward to reading about it. I wish y’all much joy and many blessings on this journey:-)
I have 5 children 4 of whom are grown and gone. Having my new furry baby here makes my nest seem less empty. Best wishes to you on your road to reproduction. Enjoy your lab baby!
Perhaps the word “substitute” offended. “Stepping stone” would have helped those those easily offended. A movie I watched years ago said get a plant and keep it alive for a year, then get a pet and if you don’t make a success of those two things please don’t have a child. Obviously if you haven’t bottle raised an animal and helped it survive you wouldn’t know that it is much more dependent on you than a child. A small animal can die within hours. Also children are raised to survive on their own so the parent hopefully knows to let go one day. Not the same with the pet, the obligation is their entire natural life. You do learn may things that are very valuable with raising a child. Now that my mom is into the great grandchildren stage we all know it is her dog who is her best companion and greatest love and we are happy for her. I hope this couple is able to find a child to be their own but for now I am so happy they have a pet to love.
Ahhh. I was all smiles at the end of this story. But if I brought home a little puppy, my wife would look up at me and ask, “Who’s gonna take care of this? You?”.
Look for to reading about your journey.
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