Puppies and Toddlers

The highlight of our week has been our new puppy. She is about 7 months old, full of energy and very funny.  Rescued from an abandoned field, she had been in foster care for some time and now has found her furever home with us. Daughter named her "Jessie" (from Toy Story) and it fits.  

I'll post pictures later.  Once I've figured out how to keep her still long enough.

As you can see, we've been quite busy.

Everyone says having a puppy is like having a baby, but I tend to disagree.  Babies sleep all the time. You can put babies somewhere and they don't move.  You can strap them in a car seat and watch them in your little mommy mirror. NOT PUPPIES.

No. 

Puppies move.  A lot. They jump on your head while you nap on the couch. They climb in your lap while you are driving, making you hope and pray that you won't have to hit the breaks or get pulled over by the cops because, hello, your passenger bites.

Nope. Puppies are nothing at all like babies.  Puppies are more like toddlers.

Toddlers want to be everywhere all the time.  They wake you up while you try to nap on the couch.  They would love to climb out of the car seat while you drive, and believe you me, they try.

Like with toddlers, you teach your puppy the right way to behave and they try, only when it is in their best interest. Puppies sit or stay or lay down (maybe) if you give them a treat.

Toddlers stop screaming in Wal-mart if you bribe them with a Happy Meal.

Of course, this is only in the beginning of training.  Eventually they do what you tell them because they want to please you.  Until they become teenagers.

Puppies are learning where and when to go potty.  Sometimes they go outside.  Sometimes they go inside.  They try not to have an accident on the carpet, but really, they don't care because someone else is going to clean it up.

Toddlers are in the potty-training phase.  They want to please mama and daddy and they love to wear their new Disney character undies. But, really they don't care if they have an accident because someone else it going to clean it up.

And sometimes they go outside.

When a puppy suddenly gets quiet and disappears into the other room, you'd better put your coffee down and check on her.  She is probably chewing your new shoes from Steinmart or eating something from the trash.

While you're on Facebook, your toddler tiptoes down the hall.  You find her standing in your closet, wearing your new shoes from Steinmart while eating that half of a Hershey bar you thought you threw in the trash.

Let's face it.  You spend half the day saying, "What a good girl," and the other half saying, "What did you do?"

Yes.  Puppies and toddlers have a lot in common.

Puppies and toddlers are scared of strange noises.  Like the dishwasher and Cookie Monster.

Puppies and toddlers have big bellies that are warm and usually smell like their last meal.  Or something they rolled in.

Puppies and toddlers hate storms, firecrackers, and scary-looking people.

Puppies and toddlers are good judges of character.

They love children, ice cream, and warm blankets. 

They can sleep wherever they land.

They throw up when they eat too many treats.

They love you unconditionally.  They cuddle with you in the mornings, but just for a moment until they've moved on to something new. 

Yes, puppies and toddlers are a lot alike. Before you know it, they are eating grown-up food and napping less, learning new things and exploring on their own.  You turn around, and they are all grown up.

And, thank goodness, they finally stopped going on the carpet.