On Wednesday it will be four weeks since I brought Boyo home. Oh my God, how quickly time has passed. In some ways, it feels like it was only two weeks ago, while in other ways it feels like he's always been here. Puppy time is incredibly cozy in many ways, but I'd be lying to your face if I said it's a bed of roses.
Boyo is on overall a very nice and cozy puppy. He is easy to deal with, and listens relatively well (for being a puppy 😀 ). What I find to be damn traditional is probably what most puppy people find difficult; room cleanliness and chewing. And then Boyo isn't particularly bothered by either of those things, heller.
What I think is most troublesome with this particular period of Boyos and my common life is the absence of sleep. He stays up all night, but since I tried really hard to avoid peeing accidents indoors as much as possible, I made sure we stayed out late and got up early. That means very little sleep for me. Add to this that for a few days he has a period where he wakes up in the middle of the night and wants to be active for a while. It means; climb around in bed (he sleeps with me), chew and bite me a little, the bedspread, jump down on the floor and trot around a bit, and then wanting to get back into bed.
I have not slept properly or enough in a month. It's starting to take its toll, and I notice that I get more easily offended and irritated by things that are no one's fault. Not my fault, but not the dogs' either (Boyos and Lilos) up. It's kind of like having PMS, for you women reading – I just get pissed off for such small reasons that it's ridiculous, but can't do anything about it because it's because I'm so tired I hardly know my name or what's up and down.
The frustrating with the whole thing is of course that my tiredness and inability not to react to small things makes the dogs sense my emotional state, and react to it themselves. It's a lie to say it's to hell, because it really isn't – but I know how it works, and then I get annoyed with myself for not being able to feel as stable and balanced as I like best. Men; self-awareness is among the sexiest things I know, and I happen to know that when I'm tired I become more unbalanced and unstable. Not that it's an excuse not to work hard to achieve balance and stability, but I also have mine bipolar disorder who can set it up for me (although I am surprisingly stable from that perspective).
The cure is single – but then I have to wipe puddles of pee instead, and I don't fancy it any more than I necessarily have to. Plus it doesn't matter if I think I'm going to sleep anymore – I wake up automatically when Boyo starts to move.
So right now I mostly walk around feeling sorry for myself. However, I don't intend to do that forever – sooner or later Boyo will become completely room clean, and also be able to stay up more hours at night. I will be able to sleep properly without being woken up, and besides, I won't have to think about this with his throbbing belly.
Another thing which makes me easily irritated, Moreover, is that I live cramped. I have a poorly planned second, and as long as Boyo is not room clean I lock us in the kitchen to limit the space where accidents can happen (and yet it has happened in other places). But then; my kitchen is very small, and I'm so incredibly looking forward to him being so big and so clean that I can trust that no accidents happen when I'm not looking, and that I can trust him not to chew things up because his mouth itches.
The day I If I decide to get another dog, I'll probably make sure I've met a man first. Taking care of a puppy alone is quite a lot, actually. 😀 I've probably reached that stage where I'm considering questioning myself and why it felt so necessary to have a puppy, just.
Therefore I am after all, very grateful that the puppy time is the shortest – soon he will be a young dog, and that period certainly has its drawbacks, the one with, but at least he's room clean by then, and hopefully I will be able to sleep properly. 😀
It feels important to write this post, because this thing about having a puppy is actually quite difficult. All puppies are different, and it's hard in very different ways. Ella took her time getting clean, while another bitch from Försvaret I looked after for a while was very fast on that front. But then she was completely hysterical about chewing things and eating clothes, bedding, blankets, drinking glasses and so on, instead. The hardest thing about Boyo is that I'm so tired, and spends so much time brooding over his stomach and bowel activity.
Now I'm going to stop whining and feeling sorry for myself, and return to working on my inner balance, stability, and to be as good a math as possible. 🙂
Wish me luck! ♥