Puppy sitting

When Seth and Katie came in from Fort Hood a few days before Christmas, they brought a "surprise" with them......a 6-week-old puppy named Bailey that they got from an animal rescue center on base the day before......hmmmmm. After making it very clear to them that this was NOT the kind of "surprise" someone wants to learn about after it has already arrived on their doorstep, we steeled ourselves for the onslaught of puppy pee and poop in our house......on our carpet......the carpet we just had installed a few years ago. *Sigh!!!* Did I mention that we are NOT indoor-dog people?? We've had several dogs in our time, but they've always been outside dogs. The last one was Bear, a large 80-pound lab-mix dog that we had for 13 years and loved dearly. He came in the house alot, but he lived outside. I cried when we had to put him to sleep a little over a year ago, and we haven't been able to even think about getting another dog since......and don't know if we ever will......Bear was special.

Anyway, we have an 8-year-old house cat named Fizzy who rules our roost. Needless to say, Fizzy is not enamored with the puppy being in HER house one little bit. After spending a few days hiding under our bed, she finally began standing her ground and hissing at the puppy. Well, being the young puppy she is, Bailey thinks this is wonderful and wants to play with the growling, spitting kitty and doesn't understand why she can't......hmmmmm. Chaos doesn't begin to describe our household since December 20th.

Then there's the wild-ass chicken that moved into our backyard last Spring from who knows where. She roosts in the crepe myrtle tree between our house and our neighbors' house and thinks she owns our backyard. Hell, she thinks she owns the whole neighborhood because she goes where she pleases. Ken named her Chickenzilla because she chases other birds, squirrels, and cats out of our yard. At first, Bailey was afraid of Chickenzilla because she was just as big as her, but now she loves chasing her and will run her all over the yard until she flies to the top of the wooden fence to get away. Ken has started calling Bailey a chicken hawk, after the cartoon character, of course......lol.

Well, to top it all off, Seth and Katie had planned a ski trip to Colorado with friends during his month-long leave......they planned it before they decided to get the puppy......hmmmmm. When I asked him what they planned to do with Bailey while they were gone skiing for a week, Seth smiled his little grin that he knows melts my heart and said, "We thought you might keep her." Do you see where I'm going with this???

Yup, we're puppy sitting......hmmmmm. The first thing we had to do was figure out what we were going to do with her during the day while we were at work......as she is not an outdoor dog......yet. We finally decided to cordon her off in a portion of the kitchen. "Cleanup on tile 4"..... :) I also cordon off the entire kitchen from the rest of the house, a second barrier, just in case she manages to escape the first. Fizzy loves this arrangement because she can sit on top of the room divider like a vulture and glare down at Bailey in her "cell" with a look of total contempt. Bailey is a people puppy and hates being alone all day, so she crawls all over the first person in the door every afternoon, which is usually Ken, to let us know how lonely and mistreated she has been. So far, so good, though......the blockade we rigged up seems to be working.

Nighttime is another matter, however. Seth and Katie had been letting her sleep on their bed at night to keep her from crying. I objected to this, but it fell on deaf ears......so the only way we can keep her from crying at night is to put her on our bed with us......hmmmmm. I get up several times a night when she starts getting restless to take her outside to potty. And sometimes she's just too wound up to sleep and wants to play. Can you say sleep deprivation???

But wait, there's more......Seth and Katie took MY car to Colorado......hmmmmm. I swear, the things I do for my boys......I just can't seem to say no...... :)

Bailey has one very important thing going for her, though, she is a cutie and stole our hearts the minute we saw her. What can I say??? We're suckers...... :) But hey, who can resist this face????