A Shitty Affair!
"What do you do when things start to go south?"
"All good things come to an end"
Life has a funny way of waking us to the harsh realities of life. But then, this what pushes us to learn and grow. But why am I talking about the harsh reality? We just got our fur-baby; isn’t it the time to be joyous? Well, I will soon be waking up to the nightmare…
An Amateur Pet Parent’s Thought
So, I had reluctantly agreed to my husband’s wish to have a pet on one condition – we will have clear boundaries in the house. Armed with all the knowledge from the articles and videos, I planned on making cleanliness and discipline as our #1 priority once Max was a family member. To begin, we agreed to have a ‘Max Floor’ and a ‘Hooman Floor’; and, I did not let his puppy face change my decision. Of course, this meant that our bedroom was temporarily shifted to Max’s room on Ground Zero but then parents are supposed to sacrifice their comfort for the kids, right? No biggie. Our beds were made, water bowl was filled and the three of us were off for a rejuvenating sleep. Or, were we?
First Night
The sleep, which had started with rubbing the cutest fur belly, ended with waking up in a crap field! Who says teleportation is a fantasy – it had happened right there, in Max’s bedroom. We could smell the magic everywhere! It was 2 AM, just two hours since we slept, when we woke up to bed scratching and whining noises. We switched on the light and were awe-struck at Max’s storage capacity – the books don’t tell you how much mess a small pup can make in a few hours! We looked at each other and realized that we had a major flaw in our preparations. You see, we saw endless videos about how to be an ‘Alpha’, but never prepared ourselves for the poop phase. There he was, walking through his pee and we were running helter-skelter trying to clean up. Research? In our face!
Following Morning
Next morning, while trying to see through my puffy-sleep-deprived-eyes, it felt as if we did not clean any mess at all; which couldn’t be true as the memories of last night’s horrors were still fresh! “I have to be at work shortly and look at all this mess!” – my brain was tired, I was agitated and furious, and I had already started to doubt my decision. “Will we have to live through this every day?”, I murmured. Fortunately, we had a paternity leave (or WFH) to the rescue. My husband woke up, cleaned up the mess and Max, took him out for his business and kept him company while I rushed through the morning chores to reach work on time. Although I was tired as I reached work, I remembered our furball and smiled. “Probably Max was just anxious because of travel and change of place – we’ll be fine tonight”.
And… Repeat!
It’s amazing how we stay optimistic while not doing anything different. Like it is said, “If you change nothing, nothing will change”; next night was no different – and many more followed. The entire affair was turning into a horrible nightmare now! Max would sleep almost for the entire day and would create ‘employment opportunities’ for us while roaming around post-midnight! I realized that raising a puppy is akin to raising a kid. You just need to clean floors instead of changing diapers – greater surface area, more efforts! The same scenario continued for a few days and nothing worked on the little poop machine! We tried putting him in his crate to make him sleep, he whined; we tried taking him out before sleeping, he still relieved himself within an hour. We were unable to teach him the right place to eliminate himself and I was on the verge of losing it now; this is not how it was supposed to be.
Time to Talk!
I finally decided to let go of online research (or leave my non-talkative husband at it) and talk to my cousin, who had been through pet-parenthood recently. We started talking and I shared my nightmare which was giving us sleepless nights along with laborious days. A problem that we hadn’t been able to solve despite all that effort. And, it was amusing how we missed (or overlooked) such an important piece of information! I realized that we cannot educate ourselves about everything through reading; after all, “Experience is the best teacher”. The secret to a blissful sleep was right in front of us, something that we had thought to be cruel. Want to know how to not wake up amidst ‘A Shitty Affair’? Read on!
Secret to a Blissful Sleep
The solution was simple – a crate! Not the one which he arrived in, but slightly bigger. As opposed to a general belief among new pet parents, it isn’t cruel. It’s a bassinet where the baby can sleep safely. We bought a crate where he could move, circle and sleep. We layered it with a thick blanket, pillows and his toys. Finally, we covered it partially with a sheet – creating a ‘Den’ for our young ‘Lion’. We kept it next to our bed and lured him inside with treats. Sure, he whined a little during the first night – but, we were there to comfort him. Since dogs don’t soil their home, he learned that he should relieve himself once he was out of the crate. We took turns every 2 hours to take him outside and he gradually learnt about the right place to eliminate. He eventually learned that ‘crate time’ was ‘sleep time’ and we also avoided separation anxiety in times to come; but, that story is for another day. For now, we could enjoy our day and our night with him without having to polish the floors every hour! A bliss!
And, a month later... Enjoying his Den!
