Living With The Dog Mamma: (Part 4) The New Puppy

by Jerry Rade

Finally the day came when our new puppy arrived home to stay for good. She was such a sweet, soft, gentle bundle of fur that we needed to find a name that would reflect her character. So, we finally decided on the name Jasmine.

When a family brings a new puppy into the home they tend to make a critical error, the same as we did. 

We expected Jasmine to become integrated into our lives. She had a different view, though. We were all hers to do with as she pleased. It wasn’t something that was readily apparent at the onset, but years later we could look back and see the changes that she brought about, starting from when she first day she entered our home.

One of the first things I warned Jana about was house training


I explained to her what needed to be done, and I tried to downplay the fact that it took quite a while for a new puppy to become completely house trained.

Not with Jasmine, though. In the first few days of her life with us Jasmine peed on absorbent pads twice and pooped once in the house.

That was it. She was house trained.
To Jana this is just fine, it only took a few days, not much of a mess, and now we are all done. I, on the other hand, thought that this was very unusual. I really don’t like to look a gift horse in the mouth but I had a feeling that this would come back to haunt me if ever we got another puppy. And it did. JD took a few months, and Jana could not understand why he was so slow to learn.

One thing I may have been a bit guilty of not telling Jana prior to Jasmine coming to live with us was that puppies like to play. A lot. 

I didn’t think that it would be so bad. We had two teenagers in the house who I thought would help share the load. It was a great idea that lasted for one day. Then the novelty wore off and having to help with the puppy became a burden. That meant Jana would have to entertain Jasmine during the day, and I would help out after work.

Since Jana works at home I thought that perhaps this would work out. The problem was that Jasmine was quite willing to play all day.

In fact, she insisted that Jana play with her all day. 


This put undue pressure on Jana since Jasmine could play nonstop, and Jana had work that needed to be done. My job is a bit unique and I spend a great deal of time outdoors.

So, I started taking Jasmine to work with me. 

It was one of those things it just worked out well. While Jasmine was a puppy, no one would argue since puppies are so cute. As time went on and Jasmine grew it still wasn’t a problem - who’s going to argue with a full-grown Rottweiler. When fellow employees asked why I had a dog with me I would just answer She’s my complaint department. If you don’t like it, you complain to her”. For some reason no one ever tried that.

However, once winter came it was a different story, my job changes and I spend more time in the office. So Jasmine had to start staying at home again.

By this time, Jana had grown attached to her. 

She had done quite a bit of reading and one quote stuck out in her mind: “A tired dog is a good dog”. So in the afternoons she would take Jasmine for a long walk in the local park. When they returned home, Jasmine slept. On some days, particularly when the weather was bad, Jana really didn’t feel like taking Jasmine out for a walk. But at the regular time Jasmine would come and sit beside her and give her the “puppy eyes”. As we all know there is nothing you can do to defend yourself against puppy eyes. So they would go. Every day, no matter what.

That became the routine that lasts to this day.

I can clearly recall the moment when Jana transformed into a true dog mama. 

Jasmine had done something that caused me to get cross with her. I had her sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor and I was giving her heck. She was not very happy but couldn’t see a way out of it.

Suddenly, Jana came into the room to Jasmine’s defense. Jasmine took one look at Jana and ran behind her. She stuck her head between Jana’s legs and gave me a look that said “What are you going to do now”? Jasmine did everything but stick her tongue out at me. From that point on it was the two of them against me.

My life has never been the same.

Related articles:
Jasmine

Articles by Jerry Rade:
The Ups And Downs Of Dog Ramps
Living With The Dog Mamma: (Part 1) The Rest of the Story
Living With The Dog Mamma: (Part 2) A Dog In The House  
Living With The Dog Mamma: (Part 3) Maybe Having A Dog In The House Isn't Such A Bad Idea After All 

Comments

  1. Dogs do have a way of wiggling into your heart, curling up and making themselves at home, don't they?

    --Woofs (and purrs) from Life with Dogs and Cats.

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    Replies
    1. They certainly do and Jasmine was an expert at that :-)

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  2. Awwww. I'm enjoying Jasmine's story and Jana's role. Thank you for telling it!

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  3. I loved hearing this story. I can just imagine little Jaz as a puppy and a young dog. What a lucky pup she was to get so much attention - going to work with dad for awhile and then hanging out with mom at the home office.

    And such a good point about the walks. A tired dog is definitely a good dog. If only more people understood exactly what that means!

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