Here’s the deal. I’ve got the place to myself for a couple weeks. At first, I thought “Great! Time alone to get some serious studying done for the GRE!” I soon realized that this was not to be.
The dogs, separated now from 4 members of the family, have gone nuts. It’s been hardest on the puppy, a Boston Terror, who’s been my constant shadow the entire time so far. Our older dog, an Akbash, has resorted to barking at anything and everything. I expected all this, of course, but not to this extent.
See, the puppy thinks there are only three things to do while awake: play, pee, and eat (Ordered by frequency). So every five minutes, I’m greeted with this at my feet. Seriously, who can resist that? The problem is, she does this even when it’s a bad time. Like, right after she’s eaten (gives her an upset stomach and things have to be cleaned up…), or when I’m trying to take a timed practice test. Or sometimes, she’ll try playing with a toy she shouldn’t play with, like her Baby. The Baby is a stuffed Boston plushie that she carries everywhere and she can’t go to sleep without it. Playing with it would mean its utter demise within minutes, which would mean getting her a new Baby. She’s a fussy one, and I’m not about to deal with the trauma of a dismembered Baby.
–Hang on, she’s eating something she shouldn’t be… Ah, a dead millipede. Where does she find this stuff??–
After all the playing, it’s time for her to go sleep. Peace and quiet, right? I can get back to my studying? No. She’ll still sit there and whine at me, because I have to go nap with her! Being 10 feet away is apparently too much for her separation anxiety to handle, so she needs me to snuggle up against until she falls asleep. (Yes, she often does sleep in my lap, but not lately. Don’t know why). Once asleep, I get some free time until the other dog starts barking, which wakes up the puppy, who then can’t go back to sleep because I’m across the room. Arg!
–Hey! Hey! Quit chewing on my chair!–
Even better is when she sits there whining for no particular reason at all. Doesn’t want to play, doesn’t want to sleep, not time to eat, and she’s already been outside. She just misses her mommy. But she seems to think I can fix this, so she’ll continue whining and pouting (I swear I never thought dogs could actually pout before now) and staring at me with those sad puppy eyes. It’s maddening! I’ll never get anything done until there are more people in the house again. (example: this post alone took me well over an hour to write. I would get about 30 seconds of writing time before she reminded me that I’m not done playing with her yet)
sigh I still love her though. I just wish she could entertain herself sometimes.
So, anyone else got stories of puppy frustration? I know there’s another person here with not one, but two Boston Terrors! I’m sure he/she can sympathize with most of what I’ve written.