nin137

Nick's Journal
2008-11-13 03:23:30 (UTC)

A Puppy is Hard Work

there's nothing i hate more in life than when others try to
intimate someone who is looking to enter into some sort of
venture by telling them how freakin' hard it is going to be.
believe me, you get your doses when you're in the legal
profession. as a general rule i've found that people who
tell you how hard shit is (especially their own lives) are
really just exaggerating in order to make themselves feel
better about themselves.

but there is one thing i will readily admit. those people
who told me that having a puppy would be a lot of hard work
were right on. i mean right on.
between working somewhere around 90 hours a week on school
and part-time job, my riding the bus home to take care of
this guy eats up at least 2 hours of my precious day.
not only is caring for him an inordinate ordeal in and of
itself but there are the attendant circumstances you don't
even think about.

i worry about him soemtimes. i feel HORRIBLY guilty when i
leave him. he whines a bit and it makes me feel guilty as
anything in this world. i'd say that, between me and juli,
he gets at least 2 hours of walking a day. i've easily lost
10 pounds since getting him.
i used to have size 32 waist and all of those pants hang off
of me now. but aside from the psychological strain of worry
and guilt is the true physical ordeal. and nowhwere is
physicality more intrical than when taking care of a 5 month
old puppy that already weighs 45 lbs.

last sunday my friend kyle came over so that we could study
(that's how sad my life is, my hanging out with friends
means studying with someone at a location other than the law
library). i made my dog sit and stay as i opened the gate
to our yard. i made the huge msitake that i had been warned
against over and over. never TRUST a 5 month old puppy to
do ANTHING.
the second i tunred to leave he bolted...out into the
fucking street. i can't even adequately describe my feeling
as i saw his mass brush past me into a city street, puppy
mind all atune to play.
with cars screeching and people looking on he made a mockery
of my attempts to coax him to me. he did his play bow and
bolted once i got within 2 feet of him. finally he got
close to kyle to whom i screamed,
"tackle him!"
kyle threw himself on top of him with me following shortly
thereafter.

as if those little disasters weren't enough puppies have a
habit of crushing your hopes for them. i've spent a while
now trying to leash train him. this involves me walking
like a retard. the second he pulls on the leash i am to
stop and not budge until he lets it slacken again. it took
me 20 mins to walk one block with him.
but after a bit he started walking really well, to the point
where, last night he walked like a true champ.
i was so proud and happy that he seemed to had finally
grasped the concept.

and then this evening i was walking with him and he just
went absolutely apeshit. he started biting the leash and
jumping up on me, to the point where he was purely
uncontrollable.
then of course came the cherry on the top. the leash
snapped from the collar. i am staring it now and i have no
idea how it is physically possible for this clasp to unhook
itself from the ring on the collar...but it did.

it took me a few seconds to realize what had happened and by
then he was absolutely crazed. it's dark, we're in the
middle of the city, and he has no leash. he bolted across
the road and gave me a play-bow from across the way.
needless to say i could only pray for no cars. after what
seemed to be an eternity he got close enough so that i could
throw myself upon himm and buckle him back in.

having a puppy is fucking hard work.




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