The Calm After the Storm

Oh my God, I feel like I've just run a marathon... or emerged from a week stranded in the woods.

After an hour of grocery shopping and other errands, I came home to find that Shadow wet his bed. Not his fault. But then he went puppy crazy for the next 90 minutes, biting, scratching, running and flipping all over the place on the leash, and acting in such a way that I couldn't allow him near our neighbors' kids because he was too hyper.

Figuring I'd exhaust some of his pent up energy, I took him outside for a game of fetch and chase-your-owner-all-around-the-yard. I was having a blast. He was having a blast. Then he stumbled upon some more interesting feces left by the neighbor's dog (who should not even be in our yard, let alone defecating there), and decided it might make a tasty treat.

Within two minutes he was whisked inside his play pen and a call frantic phone call was placed to his vet. "Just watch him," she said, adding that it's gross but all dogs do it. Phew, okay.

After a first-time tooth brushing (all he wanted to do was eat the brush),  it was time to clean his bed. During this time he had another accident in the pen and cried for the better part of the next half hour.

When I looked like the novice mother of triplet toddlers (hair frizzy in all directions, body sagging, raccoon eyes), it was finally time for dinner. When finished, he conked out under the coffee table, enabling me to pop a beer and regain my sanity (or at least take the edge off a bit).

Now the former devil is chewing quietly on his bully stick and leaning his adorable little face into my feet. And I once again become a sucker...

(Sorry for the glorified Twitter post... but if you want to know what it's like to raise a brand new puppy, this is as real as it gets!)