Meet Misty, the reason I haven't posted anything in over a month. Our newest family member is a sweet 11 month old puppy (we think German Shepherd and Greyhound mix). She and her siblings were found in a dumpster last November in San Carlos, Mexico. Considering the puppies were around 5 weeks old when they were found, that makes her a Libra too!
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| First day home |
This little Libra goes by several names in our house: Miss, Mistypants, Mistycakes, Mistface, Babygirl, Misticals, Biscuit, and Awesome Sauce.
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| Poster child for abandoned animals: insert sad Sarah McLaughlin song here. (Her first day 4 hours alone) |
Every day is a new challenge with Misty. First, we had to do separation anxiety training and practice leaving her while she cried at the door. Luckily, I've only lost a couple shoes so far, and had some help shredding the paper recycling.
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| Extra sad because Amit is away for work. |
Apparently when you move a dog to a new home, they also need to be re-housetrained. This was so frustrating. We spent about 6 hours walking her the first day - walking and walking hoping she would pee. We practically popped a bottle of champagne the first time she peed outside instead of holding it until we came in the door. She felt so insecure in our busy neighborhood, filled with traffic, noises, smells, constant passerby and literally hundreds of dogs to meet. Overstimulated, scared and nervous, we thought she would get used to it all if we just kept walking. It was a tough week of resorting to crating her, cleaning up accidents and frequent trips outside. It's a been a month now, and she is much more comfortable - but still extremely skittish.
Everyone in our neighborhood knows Misty now. Strangers come up to me
and say "hi Misty!". There's a whole other social world of dog people
outside that you don't notice until you're part of it. Kind of like driving around in a Volkswagen Beetle - you don't notice how many are on the road until they start flashing lights and waving at you.
Another challenge has been getting Mistface to eat. She just doesn't care that much about food, and is super skinny. She needs to gain about 10 pounds (I've already lost 4 pounds since we go her). We have to remind her to drink water and practically spoon-feed her every meal.
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| Mistypants right before the broken finger incident. |
Giving her proper exercise is another challenge - she is difficult on a leash sometimes. She either pulls like a sled dog or freezes every minute and refuses to move. She lays down on the ground if she spots a dog 2 blocks away and won't budge until they finally give her the time of day. Sometimes she flips out and acts scared for no reason, and tends to back herself towards oncoming traffic. Other times she just wants to jump and play - which is how I got my finger broken. Her leash somehow got stuck on my free hand and yanked my finger out of place, breaking it laterally through the knuckle.
Mistycakes also develops sudden confusing behaviors. We got stuck for 3 minutes in the elevator one day, and now she completely flips out in there, after being fine before. It's getting a bit better, but now she refuses to come inside the building because she wants to walk more. Now she decided to be scared of walking out from the apartment to the elevator, but getting in the elevator is fine. Sometimes chicken is magical, enticing her into anything, other days she could give 2 shits about your chicken. I joke that I don't need to lift weights any more because I'm always pulling her with the leash and carrying the 40 pound baby around when she refuses to move. Something new every day.
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| How innocent she is, dreaming of flying. Luckily this is the typical indoor behavior. |
Between busy season at work, walking Misty, feeding her, playing with her, cleaning up after her and doctor visits at least once a week, my schedule has been insane. Amit has been travelling for work a couple of the weeks, and those are when I really have no time for anything. I can't tell you the last time I sat and watched TV for a solid hour without hitting pause or just giving up. My one goal has been to sit and watch a movie start to finish, but I've been unsuccessful. Forget cooking, I don't even have time to eat. And with a splint on my finger it's been too hard to chop, wash my hands and clean the dishes.
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| Puppy likes to bite. Only Amit lets her play rough. |
Not only have I forsaken blogging because of the lack of time, but lack of content. I have hardly cooked beyond necessity. Most of the groceries get thrown out rotten, since I'm always too tired to use them. Half the dishes in the sink are from microwaving organic dog food.
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| Getting used to the surroundings in Downtown Brooklyn |
Mistface has taken priority over our lives now, but things are getting more under control. She has a great submissive and friendly personality and is going to be a great pet. It just takes a lot of work in the beginning. I kind of like waking up a little early on sunny mornings. I like that I'm losing weight without specifically trying. I wish I had time for cooking or the gym, but really glad we have our new super cool roommate with the pretty pretty face.
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