so, last sunday morning (july 24 - which (fyi) is a state holiday in utah - pioneer day - for those of you who live outside the land of zion - not related to my story but a piece of trivia. kevin and i are at the farmers market selling his tasty veggies grown with love and we decide to get a puppy - a small breed because our house is small and can't accommodate a large breed. kevin wanted a garden companion.
an hour or so later our friend spring shows up at the market to say hi - and has a new pup with her. we say, "funny! we just decided today that we want a puppy!" spring: "my friend just had 15 puppies - let me bring you one to meet!" me: "well we want a small breed (spring's puppy will grow into a medium size dog i think)" spring: well, the one i want to show you because i love him so much is a shih tzu poodle mix - he's little. just you wait - my friend lives near here - i will bring the puppy to meet you!"
sure enough, spring shows up with her friend and the little guy i am holding in the picture. the puppy slays us with his cuteness and we can't deny the auspiciousness of the timing so we can't NOT take him.
SOOOOO... puppies are a CRAZY amount of work. i did not realize the extent because i have never had a puppy. i used to wonder why there were puppies in the pound - because who would give up a puppy? but i see why now (and yubyub is a really good puppy too! - oh yeah, we named him yubyub because it is a word in ewokese because we think he looks like an ewok) they suck you in with their adorableness - and then you are face with the reality of puppy training - not for everyone :)
ok - background story complete - in the book we got (puppy whisperer: a compassionate non-violent guide to early training and care - NOT to be confused with cesar (sp?) the dog whisperer - this book has nothing to do with showing dominance) in the section on socializing your puppy they say your job in socializing is to get your puppy to roll with the punches that are life. so if you drop a pan on the floor and it startles you little guy - make it a party - "yea! i dropped a pan!!!"(give treat) a loud garbage truck goes by - "yea! a garbage truck!!!!"(give treat) - you get the point.
when i first told kevin about this part of the book (he is working all the time so i read and summarize) i tell him i think it's sorta awesome but would make me feel ridiculous a little bit (though i am still down for tryin'). but the more i think about it - the more i think "WHAT an awesome tool!" for MY life!. what if every time something threw you for a loop or scared or derailed you you thought "YEA! i have to take college algebra again!" (one close to my heart). or even "YEA! i lost my job!". doing "the work" has taught me that EVERYTHING is in our power to determine our reaction to it. reality is what it is - PERIOD - the only thing we have is our reaction to it. so i appreciate the further lesson in this i got because of yubyub -
THROW A PARTY WHEN SOMETHING UPSETS YOU!
Yay! I'm posting a comment on your blog for the first time! I didn't do it before because it never let me just be anonymous.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, while I could argue (Just a little bit) on the ALWAYS being able to have a good attitude about something, I had to laugh at the parallel you drew. I started thinking about next time I'm irritated thinking, "yea! I'm so grumpy!" For that, I could probably do it. I also started thinking about how similar that mindset can be for children. "A" often gets a bit overwhelmed at noisy, startling things. And, yes, we comfort her, but we also try to point out its noisy cause its fun!
Been thinking about you lots, and just haven't got a chance to email. Hopefully, soon!
Your fellow freak of nature
Forgot to say, Love the dog!!
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