The Honeymoon Period; The Dog House Diaries

The Honeymoon Period

The Dog House Diaries –

The Honeymoon Period

Oh my God, could the day at work have BEEN any longer!!

It wasn’t helped by my colleagues shouting “Happy Puppy Day!!” when I walked in, bless them.  I then spent the next four hours texting Jon every half any hour 

“3 1/2 hours to go”

“3 hours to go”

“2 1/2 hours to go”

It was countdown to puppy o’clock., and as soon as I got home we raced off to Bedfordshire to pick up our nine week old boy.  

The breeders, Beth and Mandy talked us through all the things we needed to know, and we had to sign a contract with them saying that we wouldn’t use him for breeding ourselves, as he was to be a pet only.  They may as well have not bothered as I don’t think either of us took anything on board, as all we were doing was cuddling our little fur baby who was being very cute and snuggly with us on the sofa.  

As for the contract…. yeah, could have been signing over our house for all the attention we paid!  

Beth and Mandy gave Barkley a goodbye kiss, and both had tears in their eyes as they waved him off to his new future.  

The Honeymoon Period; The Dog House Diaries
I would just like to point out, those are not my hairy legs!

We had brought a big box with us, which we’d lined with soft towels.  We thought that we could put him in it for the journey home, but Mr Squirmy Pants lasted about ten seconds before clambering his way out and fidgeting on and around my lap the whole way.  Typically, he settled just as we were pulling into the driveway!  

We brought him straight round to the back garden for a wee and a sniff, and then after a while brought him inside to explore the kitchen (where his crate is) and the dining room to get his bearings.  

He settled really well and enjoyed a little play with his toys, the obviously named Ted (a teddy bear), and Charlotte Bronte (a brontosaurus).  I personally thought that Charlotte was a genius name but Jon is refusing to get on board.  Barkley couldn’t give a rat’s arse as his favourite so far seems to be Funky Monkey who is a strange ball-rope-monkey hybrid that you wouldn’t want to meet down a dark alleyway. 

The Honeymoon Period; The Dog House Diaries
Introducing Funky Monkey. Just imagine that life-size! Doesn’t bear thinking about does it!?

We announced our new fur baby on social media and got an absolute cascade of love and well wishes.  It looked like he was going to melt everyone’s hearts. 

After a late dinner and time spent actually talking to each other for a few hours instead of staring like stunned mullets at the tv for hours, we decided on a toilet training schedule.  We’d never used puppy pads for Chilli, and she was trained in a matter of days.   

All the books recommended taking your puppy outside for a wee every 2 hours, as well as after every meal, every nap and every play session. The books also said that a puppy can only hold their bladder for 2 hours at the age of 2 months, 3 hours at the age of 3 months, and so on up to 6 hours at six months.  Surely that meant we would have to continue during the night. 

Other than buying a tent to live in, the plan was that one of us would go to bed at 10pm, the other at 12pm.  Then the first would set an alarm for 3am, and the second for 6am.  It was flawless other than the fact that I had the first shift and it was already 11pm.  

Nevertheless, I set my alarm for 3am, and was still awake when Jon came up at 12.  Our little fella was so good.  Just a tiny little whimper when he was left in his crate, and then peace and quiet.  We held our breath, but that was it.  Woo hoo!!!  What a good boy.  

The Honeymoon Period; The Dog House Diaries
Butter wouldn’t melt

Our tiny little family was complete once more.  All was well with the world again.  

….or was it????

Sherry x

 

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2 thoughts on “The Honeymoon Period”

  1. Awww Sherry, I’m so pleased for you both. Barkley will fill a hole in your hearts and what a love he is.
    Looking forward to seeing and reading all about Barkleys’ s next adventure.
    lots of love Jules xxx

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