So, I Have A Puppy...

... and he is absolutely the most adorable thing ever! Five months old, Schnauzer-Poodle mix, nice mellow personality... Only sometimes he forgets himself. This has resulted in numerous scenarios. He's learned how to jump off the couch and recently has accomplished in jumping back onto the couch (this seems to only be possible if he frisky and wants to play)... and then he piddles when he's excited. Now, I know he's just a puppy and there are certain things he can't help and, as his mother, I'm obligated to teach him and remind him the rules of the house. Which was what I had to do last night, after I had JUST taken him out minutes before. Ugh. So, I punished him, told him it was bad, that he was naughty, and the like. Around an hour and half passes by before I decide to forgive him. We resumed playing until he was content with chewing his toys by himself. It was perfect; I had to start on my homework anyhow. My studies were interrupted when my mother, on an adjacent couch to the one where I was sitting, suddenly says, "Oh, he needs to be spanked for that."

Yes, he piddled on the floor AGAIN. In the same night. Within four and a half hours he piddled twice. After I had just punished him and then just began to forgive him. That was the last straw. He would be stripped of the privilege of sleeping with me at night on my bed.

Now, Lord knows why, but whenever he makes a mistake or has an accident, I cry. Out of frustration, sure, and also makes me think I'm a terrible mother. How I can't teach an apparently intelligent breed to NOT go in the house. I know it will take time, but it still disappoints me every time he does it. Especially this time because he did it twice in a row. Like, I didn't punish you just for you to do it again cuz you felt like it. I gave you PLENTY of opportunities to go outside. And you just piss on my hospitality, on my rules, on my love. There was no excuse for that second "accident." And people wonder why I carry him everywhere. Because I don't trust him to not go on the carpet. I'm not sure I ever will, even when he becomes full grown and knows better.

But he loves me. I know he does. He mourns when I leave; he doesn't eat when I'm gone, doesn't play with his grandma, doesn't chew on his toys, doesn't wander around looking for scraps. He becomes little more than a living breathing stuffed animal. And when I'm around, he turns a 180! Very clingy and very one person kind of dog. So I imagine it's very traumatizing to go hours without being with his mother (which he was so accustomed to being with me all day over winter break) and in this state of confusion, fear, anxiety, he forgets his place in my presence. I imagine, I HOPE, it will become easier as he gets older, as this routine becomes natural for him and he'll be more cooperative.

All in all, while I may be a "good mother" as my mother believes I am, this puppy has reinforced my adamant desire of not wanting children. EVER. Lol.