An Ounce of Prevention

It is amazing how every little thing changes when a new dog comes home. Every routine gets altered, you have to redecorate room by room in order to “puppy proof,” you no longer get to shower or use the bathroom in peace (in my case, its because there was always a party underfoot, wanting to play and know exactly what was going on. He just looked at me with those big cow eyes and huge grin as if to say “Could this get any more fun? I think we should try…” ). Rugs that you thought were safe get chewed. Chairs that you didn’t realize had a nice, almost velvet finish to them suddenly take on a new look with scratches down the side. Curtains obviously belong on the floor and not on the windows (why else would he take them down everyday?)

The saying “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” isn’t just true for face creams…it applies to dogs, too. I could have saved myself a lot of trouble if I had even loosely considered puppy proofing or simply remembered that dogs have nails and teeth…and that they barf and poop and pee just like other living things. I knew Rocket needed to be trained not to be underfoot, not to chew, and not to take the curtains down…but my motto was “one lesson at a time.” My intention was to focus on one “problem” and “fix” it before moving on to the next—I just forgot to choose the first lesson, or couldn’t decide on what was the most important one to begin with, or something! I didn’t begin training at all, just maintaining a constant frustration as I was “deciding” to begin. I wish I’d just jumped in with a smile instead of a furrowed brow. A clear plan would have been helpful. But regardless of my lack of “prevention,” and growing frustration, Rocket was having one hell of a good time…maybe he was trying to prevent me from going off the deep end with exasperation, because every time I looked down at the new mess we had just made, he’d gaze back at me beaming: “Could this get any more fun? I think we should try…”



"Maybe there's more fun under here?"