Puppy Love!

My little ball of fluff has grown and grown and grown...and she now is 20 months old...almost two years old - Hallelujah! (Dogs are supposed to mellow out around age two).

Do you remember when I was five months pregnant with Baby Violet (back then we called her Pavenzia) - and I used to carry Daisy around like this?  I used to take Daisy everywhere like this - Target, Home Depot, to Paprika's school...you name it.  Poor Daisy got kicked out of that spot really quickly when Violet came along - and let's face it, by that point she weighed about 70 pounds so it wasn't happening anyway.  Haha.




That first month or so with Daisy was such a honeymoon.  She was the smartest puppy, and the girls held on to her from that very first second and never wanted to let go.




I look back on these pictures and think...what the heck was I thinking getting a dog when I was four months pregnant?!  That was really foolish on my part.  If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't have done it.  It was crazy to bring a puppy into our family when I was about to have a new baby.

But, I didn't see it like that.  I spent a lot of Pavenzia's pregnancy thinking she might not be born (at the time I had lost three babies and had two living...so odds were not in her favor).  I thought getting Daisy would be this amazing thing for Paprika.  I admit, I had watched a few too many videos about dogs and children on YouTube.  Plus, I was in this highly emotional state of pregnancy - living with intense anxiety about Pavenzia's well-being, and I guess I thought that even though I could not control the outcome of the pregnancy, I could control whether or not we got a dog.

Looking back the logic seems a little shaky, but it made sense in the moment.  :-)




We went round and round - first trying to adopt older dogs, then a rescue (which turned out not to be a good fit)- and then one day, I found Daisy and my heart melted.  How could it not?!




Well, after that little honeymoon phase (which lasted all of a month or two!  haha), I was so done with Daisy.  I was very pregnant, and did not have the energy to manage her and two tiny children.  It was so exhausting.  She drove me crazy!  I begged Mr. M to let me find a new home for her.  Begged.

But, he didn't give in.  We kept Daisy...against my wishes.  ;-)  It has been a bumpy ride, but here we are.  She is 20 months old now.  And one day not too long ago, I woke up one day and realized something.

I love her.  A lot.





Originally, I had thought that Daisy would be this incredible companion for Paprika and that Paprika would speak to Daisy in her animal language and they would have this forever bond.  Haha.  Well, that did not happen.  Paprika loves the idea of Daisy, but otherwise wants nothing to do with her.  Don't get me wrong, if something happened to Daisy, Paprika would be incredibly sad. 

But as much as Paprika loves the idea of Daisy, she doesn't want to touch her pretty much ever.  If I say to her:  Paprika, come over here and pet Daisy.  Paprika will say:  How about I pet her tomorrow?

Haha.

Turns out that Paprika loves insects - her snails and butterflies and grasshoppers.  A pet turtle would have been a better fit for Paprika, but I didn't know that (or didn't want to admit it to myself) at the time.  I wasn't ready to give up that dream of a family dog who would follow us around like Lassie.

The reality of what we have now is something better than I ever could have imagined.  Daisy is the BEST dog I ever could have hoped for - and the thing is that she just gets better and better.  Even though Paprika does not connect with Daisy as I'd hoped, Ginger loves her...sometimes a little too much.

They are Double Trouble...if you know what I mean!  ;-)





Daisy is so smart, so kind, so patient, so loving...she is a better dog than I could have ever hoped to find, and yet here she is in our family.  I am grateful for her.  A year ago, I would have laughed in your face if you'd told me I'd be grateful for Daisy.  It is amazing how a year can change things.  :-)

Baby Violet loves Daisy most of all - she is always saying:  Daisy!  Doggie!  Daisy stay....Stay....Daisy!

And the funny thing is that Daisy listens to her.  Daisy is so so so good...and her inability to have any sort of control around food makes me love her even just a little bit more. ;-)




So, Daisy is here to stay.  She isn't a perfect dog (she still jumps on the couch and will eat your food if you turn two degrees sideways) - but she is perfect for us.

It's taken 20 months, but I've fallen in love with her.  It's not that puppy love I had for her way back when we first adopted her.  It's the real deal.   :-)




The End.