Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Just a bad day so far.....

Sometimes I feel completely in love with Wally, close to how I feel about Carissa. The kind of love that makes you clean off a kids ice cream cone when it starts to melt on a hot summer day. Before Carissa, I used to watch mothers take their child's ice cream cone and lick off the slobbered on melting ice cream and just cringe. Shivering a little and wondering how a person could get to a place in their head where consumption of slobbery ice cream was acceptable. Granted nobody wants their kid to be the sticky, dirty kid but I understand now, you love the kid so much you don't care you're licking their slobbery ice cream. The other day Wally had dirt and possibly slobber on his little nose, I actually wiped it off with my hand without even thinking...
With great love comes great frustration. I remember some days getting to the point of counting how many minutes until Carissa's next nap time. I felt a similar level of frustration with Wally this morning. He started out at 5:30, we went out for a potty break. I am attempting to adjust his schedule to a 6:30 wake time so after our potty break I put him back to bed. Ten minutes later there was an emergency whine, back outside we went, I was lazy this time and didn't put on the leash. He took care of his business and proceeded to lay down in the yard and eat sticks. I didn't put on shoes but trudged across the cold ground anyway to retrieve him, gritting my teeth and reminding myself he's just a puppy. At 6:00am he again announced the day was needing to begin with a series of howls. I refused to get up at this point. At 6:30 I let him out of his crate, we went back outside for a potty break, leashed up this time. Back inside we went. I decided coffee was a must at this point in the morning. For some reason, anytime I'm in the kitchen, Wally thinks something good is being prepared for him. I have not once fed him "people" food but he whines and barks. I couldn't find the blasted lime juice to use for the barking, how I can lose a neon green round container is beyond me. Wally gave me a pleading look which I took for him being hungry but..... the look turned out to be one of "I need to take care of some business and since you aren't getting the point, I'll just go ahead and put it over here". I attempted to get him outside but he already commenced launch sequence. So we just ended up sitting outside for a minute to hopefully reinforce the thought of the potty is outside....... Back inside we went to clean up the mess..... When I purchased a case of bleach wipes last year from Costco I thought I was being a little ridiculous. Not now, I was accidentally planning ahead!
I showered, Wally barked, I dried off, Wally barked, I dressed, Wally barked. At this point, I was feeling like squeezing his head a little. I decided a walk was in order for both of us. We leashed up, I noticed how frayed the end of the leash was becoming. Wally chews sometimes while he's dragging the leash around the house. We were not outside two minutes before Wally stepped in mud and then jumped on my work pants. I remembered I was going to wear sweats on our walks from now on. Too late now..... Two more blocks in and he was pulling again. I attempted to bring him back with treats, he comes back only to take off again. Two more blocks and the leash snaps. Wally takes off with reckless abandon. He then realizes he is alone. Stops, turns back to me and returns at a low to the ground super-pup sprint. I looped the leash around his collar and resisted the urge to scream. We returned home, me more frustrated and him still full of energy even though he didn't want to walk anywhere. How can I wear the dog out if he won't walk?
I'm sitting here writing realizing I am the problem.... I love the dog but I am so frustrated with him!!! Puppy class Saturday, perhaps some extra sessions will be in order.

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