Sassafras update...

So it's been 3 days since Miss Sassy Princess joined our family, and.................things are going great!  It's a shocking surprise. 

So last Friday before we left town, we met up with Sassy at the dog park and asked all the usual adoption questions and I found out that she was not as trained as I previously thought.  Her mom said she has accidents in her crate, she is not leash trained, she drinks out of the toilet, she destroys all chew toys, she is super scared of strangers, pees in the car / jumps all over, freaks out at the vet office, wakes up super early, etc.  All weekend I had anxieties like what did I just do?  did I make the wrong decision?  I'm not going to be able to be away from the house for more than 3 hrs at a time for the next year?  I'm going to be up in the middle of the night to let her out?  Is Luka going to hate me?  We can't go out of town / have lots of people over / take her to friends' houses?  I seriously lost sleep over it and one night just laid in bed thinking "I have to call the lady back and tell her I need another week to think about it."  I'm a person that believes that things happen for a reason, but all of a sudden I was feeling like, how can I be sure that Sassy is 'the one'?  I didn't even meet any other dogs.  I can't just take home the first dog I meet??!!?!?!?!?!?

Then I was fell asleep while watching Titanic with the girls and finally had a peaceful mini nap / contemplation and realized that everything will be okay, there is a reason she called out to me, she meets the points on my checklist (size, age, sex, color) where as the other dogs I looked at online required some concessions, and I'm sure that the other girls I looked at have just as many issues that we would have to deal with.  On Friday committed to Sassy and said we would pick her up on Sunday when we got back in town, and I felt good that I was going to follow through and be ready to take on whatever was coming my way.

So while I had this revelation and found peace with my decision, David was ten steps behind me and still wanted to wait a week before taking her in.  Granted I've been looking at dogs online for over a month and have been mentally preparing for all the things that are going to change in our day to day life (we have it super easy with Luka), but David had not thought about any of it until the last moment and had a mini angry-breakdown about it all.  Change is hard, I get that, but I'm the kind of person that's like, "suck it up and deal with it."  We got the dog, she said goodbye to her Mom and little girls, we made a trip to the pet store, and then headed home where David took her on a walk to make sure she would be tired enough for bed. 

So I'm always thinking about what kind of dad that David will be and watching him with Luka, sometimes I'm like awww, he'll be patient, loving and kind.  Other times I see him get so pissed and annoyed that Luka won't stop licking the car windows, or in a bad mood because of other things that I'm like, ummmm I'm not putting my kids through this (he has gotten incredibly better at not projecting his work stress into anger).  So with getting the new dog and bringing her home, we were really tense and snippy / stressed and I kept thinking, "When we bring a baby home, are we going to be just as unhappy?" 

Also running through my head, "Does he hate her?  am I going to be the only one taking care of this dog?  does he think she's ugly?"  Well he warmed up to her right away and is in love.  He's all glowy and he can't stop talking about her.  He loves on her and keeps telling me how pretty and smart she is and how we lucked out big time with her and she was meant to be in our family (it takes him a little while to catch up with me).  All these things are true, especially getting lucky.  She is not perfect by any means, BUT she is actually really well behaved.  She is smart and lighthearted and listens and knows basics like sit, go to bed, lay down, get your bone, she has only had one accident in the house, ZERO accidents in her crate, entertains herself around the house, does not jump the walls outside, walks great on the leash, comes when called,  only cried for 15 mins the first night in her crate, AND is sleeping quietly the entire night all the way til we let her out around 9am!!!!! (the sleeping in part is my favorite).  Something we are going to have to work on is anxiety and once she has more time to get used to our routine, we'll take her out more.  Anyways, I agree with David, she was meant to be with us and we did get really lucky.  Plus, it's really nice to see him fall in love with her and want to train, run, and play with her. 

Now if only cranky Luka pants was on the same page...........