These days it seems like all my friends are having kids. And I’m having… a puppy.
That’s right. You heard it here first[1]: Cam and I are getting a dog.
In nine impossibly long, and yet terrifyingly short days, our lives are about to change forever.
I’ve loved dogs ever since I can remember, and I began asking my parents for a puppy at a very young age. There’s just something about dogs that is so intoxicatingly attractive to me: They’re fun, they’re super social, and they’re often wickedly intelligent, not to mention pretty stinking cute. If you ask me, dogs reflect the best of humanity – they are deeply curious, eager to please, and wildly fun-loving – and I truly believe that if society took a few more lessons from man’s best friend then we’d be a whole lot better off. I mean, who doesn’t need to smile more, view any obstacle as a next great adventure, and move through the world as if everybody loves you and the feeling is deeply mutual?
All I’m saying is that dogs certainly got it right: We could all use to wag more and bark less.
I haven’t had a dog since our family Corgi, Cocoa, passed away about four years ago. Cocoa was my main man and inseparable companion growing up: He was ready to run around and make me laugh in the best of moments, he was a comforting support in the worst, and he was truly a permanent family member that we’ll never be able to replace. Cocoa was always the life of the party: He had a big stomach and an even bigger heart, and, in many ways, he was my best childhood friend.
Cam experienced similar situations with family dogs growing up, and while we have both wanted a puppy for a while now, the time never felt quite right. When we first moved to Minnesota, I was commuting over thirty minutes to work each way and working long hours as a high school teacher, and Cam had just started vet school, spending most of his time at the U and then any remaining time studying – and falling asleep while studying – at home. We were never fully present, always moving, and in no place to welcome a puppy into the crazy mix of our busy lives.
And yet, a year and a half ago with the onset of the pandemic everything changed. Suddenly, our long commutes vanished into thin air, we were both home 24/7, and our busy lives still very much remained busy but became less… hectic. Slowly the constant sprinting of our schedules settled into a more moderate, comfortable jog and allowed us the opportunity to finally breathe, look up and out, and begin to consider how we might rethink that which we once thought impossible.
In other words, our dreams of one day having a puppy started to look a whole lot like a very plausible reality.
Re-envisioning what was now possible, we started to do our homework and study up on breeds we thought might make the best fit. Looking for the convergence of many traits and dispositions we settled on the German Shorthaired Pointer, affectionately known as GSPs for short. GSPs are one of the most dynamic, fun-loving breeds around: They are fiercely athletic, stupidly smart, and deeply affectionate in all the best ways. Pointers are the types of dogs that can learn new tricks and behaviors in the morning, jog casual 10k as your running buddy in the afternoon, and snuggle up with you in the evening as your favorite couch potato all in the same day. GSPs are intelligent, energetic, and devoted, and – at least in my opinion – they are also one of the most attractive breeds you’ll ever encounter.
Once we settled on our breed, we did extensive research to find a breeder we felt confident in and could readily trust. Not only is it generally difficult to find good breeders these days, but GSPs are traditionally thought of as hunting dogs, and it was important to us to find a responsible breeder who not only is okay with our decision not to hunt the dog but is also supportive of intentionally matching the best pup with the right disposition that coincides with our lifestyle and what we are looking for. We ultimately were fortunate enough to come across two local breeders that we’ve grown to trust – both closely affiliated with one another – and in mid-June one of the breeders had a litter of twelve puppies we simply couldn’t pass up.
Fast forward to now: It’s a mere nine days until our little pup comes home with us. I am excited, elated, and filled with eager anticipation, but if I’m being honest, I’m also a little nervous. We’ve done our reading, signed up for our puppy newsletters, and invested in all the right supplies. Our apartment is teeming with crates, toys, playpens, and water bowls, and we’ve begun looking at all our belongings under the critical lens of “would a puppy want to chew on this[2]?” We now spend almost all our free time googling training tips and watching YouTube behavioral videos, and I’ve started to hold off on making any social plans for the foreseeable future, as I know we’ll soon have a furry little dependent under our careful watch.
And while we’re trying to be as prepared as we possibly can, the simple truth is this: We will never be ready for the tornado that is about to touch down and wreak havoc on our lives. We can’t predict it, we can’t fully envision it, and no amount of planning in the world will ready us for the jarring reality of what life is about to look like.
All I know is this. It will be exciting. It will be exhausting. It will be filled with smiles, blood, sweat, tears, and a whole lot of pee[3]. But it will also be absolutely amazing, utterly magical, and filled with more “one-new-thing-a-days” than I can possibly imagine. We will be pushed way past our comfort zones and stretched to grow in new, completely uncharted ways.
And I can’t freaking wait.
I already love every minute of it.
Nine more days.
Bring. It. On.
[1] Or likely you haven’t because I’ve already told you about it one million times. Because I literally can’t stop talking about it, I’m THAT excited.
[2] Spoiler alert: The answer is almost always yes.
[3] Mostly of the puppy variety, but probably also some human pee, too. Can’t rule anything out.
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