Puppy Chaos

This blog has often sounded like Biggie is the perfect puppy, but that's usually because I'm only in the mood to write about him when he's being sweet. When he's being naughty, I don't have time to sit at the computer and write because I'm chasing him/cleaning up mess/exhausted.

Yesterday was probably the most chaotic day ever. P-Daddy has been out of town all week, and the apartment has slowly gotten more and more disorganized. Being a single pup-mom has meant that by the end of this week, it was all I could do to make sure I made it to work, that Biggie and I both ate, and got some sleep in the meantime. Yesterday was The Perfect Storm.

The day started out innocuously enough. I had scheduled a delivery of chicken quarters and other groceries (mostly Biggie food) to arrive 6:30-8am so I could make it to the office in time to catch Bruce Springsteen performing at Rockefeller Plaza. So I got up at 6 and started the whole walking/feeding/watering process early, all the while waiting for Fresh Direct. They get there a little after 8 while I'm walking Biggie, so I just have the guy leave 40 lbs of raw chicken (and assorted other stuff) inside the door, because Biggie is tangling me up with the leash as he tries to smell the Fresh Direct guy, and the Fresh Direct guy is doing everything he can to get away from Biggie.

As I'm unpacking the food, I get a call from our dog walker (who is great with Biggie) that he is rescuing pit bull puppies in the Bronx and the van to pick up the puppies (who will otherwise be euthanized) was supposed to get there at 9 and now it's not getting there until 2. So he isn't going to be able to make it back to walk Biggie at 1 like he usually does. Fine, I say, if the van gets there at 2 maybe he can get back to the city by 3 to walk him. At 2:30 he calls me in the office to say he isn't going to be able to walk Biggie. So I race home, bringing work to do "from home" (as if!), getting back at 3:30 pm to walk him. (Amazingly, Biggie held it for 7-1/2 hours, a new record for him.)

Our dog walker also walks Biggie's girlfriend, Zola. Zola's parents are also lawyers and at 4pm her mom calls me frantically from DC asking if I could take Zola out too. Which I do, and Biggie and Zola play in our apartment for a while, until Zola jumps on our couch while Biggie was chasing her (NO dogs are allowed on the furniture). So then I put them in the exercise pen, where they play nicely for about 10 minutes, until Zola discovers the raw turkey wing bone and a rawhide, and then she realizes she can hoard all of Biggie's toys, eventually growling at him when he tried to take one of his own toys to play with.

So maybe a change of scene would be good. I take them to Zola's apartment to play, which they happily did. Zola shared her water bowl with Biggie and they chased each other around for a while until I put Zola back in her crate and took Biggie home - off lead, which was a BIG mistake because as soon as I walked away from their door Biggie peed in the carpeted hallway outside their apartment door!

(Back down to our apartment, put Biggie in the exercise pen alone, back UP to Zola's apt, clean the floor, back down...)

After doing a few hours of work, I decided that Biggie needed a bath since he was having a reunion with his littermate, Tex, the next day. He was so dirty that the first scoops of water rinsing his back ran down our white tub in dark gray streams. He was very well-behaved for his bath, letting me was his face and standing patiently. His fur is getting curlier - it looks like fusilli pasta even when wet now!

I also tried cleaning his ears with this solution you drip into them. Well, he dind't like that ONE bit. When I finally got him out of the tub, which was basicallly helping him jump out, he fell on his face and then I tried the blow drier. He didn't like that either, and yipped at it. I used some treats and tried just getting him comfortable with it. Finally I gave up. He then proceeded to do donuts around our apartment, running at top speed. And he's usually so good about letting me touch his ears but after the ear solution he was having none of it! I'd get him over, get him in a sit/stay, and as soon as I so much as touched the outside of his ear he'd run away and run from one end of the apartment to the other, doing laps at top speed. Until he stopped at the flokati rug in the TV area that he's turned into his den. I think he likes it because it reminds him of snuggling with mom. Well this time he went to the flokati and started peeing on it, which he hasn't done in weeks. :(

To sum up:

6am wakeup
+40 lbs of chicken
+1 missing dog walker
+2 rescued pit bulls
+2 indoor accidents
+1 crazy wet puppy with 2 dirty ears
=1 tired mommy

Oh yeah, and I missed Bruce anyway!