WE GOT A DOG.

GUYS. WE GOT A DOG. We have been wanting one for quite some time, but wanted to wait until school and commute times were more chilled. I had alerts set up on Petfinder to notify me of new Australian Shepherds and this dude popped up! We went to look at him last weekend while we were in the midst of searching for a new apartment. We drove 1 1/2 hours to Jersey to see him! He was so cute and so friendly, I fell in love! 

We left to sleep on it and J was like, "Wasn't that fun to play with a dog?!" And I was like, "Um yeah but we need to get him?" So after a LONG discussion we decided that if two things happened, we would get him. Thing #1: Sign for our new apartment. Thing #2: Get approval from our current apartment to get a dog without having to pay the $600 fee. 

We signed for our apartment on Sunday, but they released the 24 hold they had put on him for us. I begged them to hold him for us until we heard back from our apartment, but they wouldn't. The woman was like, "If it's meant to be, he'll still be here when you hear back!" 

So, on Wednesday J came home and was like, "Em... I've got something here for you..." and then threw a dog toy at me and was like, "THEY AREN'T GOING TO CHARGE US ANYTHING!!!" And I was like, "WHAT!! WE CAN GET HIM?!?!" And then started crying hahahaha.

Since we are both busy and the place was a 2 hour drive, we had to wait until Saturday to get him. So I called Saturday morning with my fingers crossed that he was still available, and he was!!! It was raining SO HARD on the way there and back. On the way back we had to stop in Union City for J to drop off a computer he had built. I was stressed about being in the car alone with Tucker since he was fresh out tha kennel.

So, we pulled up to an apartment complex in Union City (which is like, a city). J hopped out and started helping the people unload the computer stuff from the back of the car. He left to help them with it into their apartment.

Long story short: Tucker started yelping and whining and I went from 0-100 stressed real fast. I kept telling myself J would be back soon and was giving Tucker treats and petting him, but he wasn't calming down. So like 4 songs went by on the radio and J still wasn't back. Oh yeah, and my phone was back at home, dead for the weekend. So I had no way to contact J.

It stopped raining, so I grabbed Tucker and went for a little walk, also searching for J cause at this point I assumed he was being held by gunpoint. We walked up and down the street like, twice, chat with two strangers, explore a grassy area, and jogged for about 5 minutes... Still no sign of J.

I was SURE he had been murdered and chopped into little pieces and I was going to be widowed and have to borrow a stranger's phone to call the police and they would be like, "Why didn't you call sooner?"And I would be like, bawling and say "I DON'T KNOW WHY!!!" 

By the time Tuck and I were done running around in the drizzle I was sweating and in full on panic mode. I got back in the car and started crying lol. Like, literally 30 seconds later J comes hopping on over, waving to me through the window.

I was like, a hot mess. We talked and let's just say he is in charge of giving Tucker his pills for the next 2 weeks haha (he has Lyme). Oh, and it turns out he was gone for close to 25 minutes! Like I felt like it was long, but also a part of me felt like J would be like, "It was only 5 minutes!" But when he realized he had been gone for so long, and remembered I didn't have a cell phone he felt so bad hahahaha.

So then we drove home and the maps app weirdly took us through New York City which reminded me of how glad I am to not live there anymore (lol). Also they told us to keep Tucker's cone on so he doesn't bug his stitches, but he literally hasn't tried to bug them? And also he can't fit in his crate with the cone and we very much need him to be on the crate train game pretty much ASAP. So last night I took it off and have been using a T-shirt instead. #pray4tucker

Last night was our first night with him and he was so stressed! I had the cone on him and just let him free in our bedroom, since he couldn't fit in the crate very well. He was up walking around, whining to be on the bed, jumping off the bed, looking out the window, licking my hand, etc. until about 3:00. Which also means I was up until 3:00. Then he somehow got his cone off (or J took it off because it was annoying as heck) so I threw a t-shirt on his legs and body. After that he went in his crate (!!!!!!) and slept in there until 6:00am. 

Today he's been a little more himself. He is leash trained and a DREAM to walk. He doesn't tug or pull you or anything. He is also pretty much potty trained. He has had 2 leaks when we didn't take him out fast enough after waking up/taking him out of his crate, but nothing major. He doesn't bark that much, only whining when he doesn't get his way and then that builds up to an occasional bark. 

He has Lyme disease (Except they said it will go away? So maybe it's just an infection or something?) which we are giving him pills for until the 30th. Also, he may have something with his back feet? Like he will go up and down the stairs outside, but won't go up and down our stairs in our apartment? Also when I got him to come up, he tripped a little bit going down. Also he won't jump onto furniture, like our bed or anything? If you guys have any ideas what could be up, lemme know. We are going to take him to the vet this Saturday and will tell him about it too.

He's been so good so far! I'm v glad we got him! I can still confirm no dog will ever be as good as Trixie, but that's alright! With a lil' training he'll be a good floofer in no time. I don't know if I talk about school on here or not? And am too lazy to search back my posts, but I am in school to be a therapist and will be done in less than a year! So I really want to train him to be a therapy dog and think he could be really beneficial to clients. People love him so far! I swear every time we walk him and pass someone they stop and pet him. We took him to the dog park just barely and he was just licking all the dogs. It was so cute haha.

Sorry in advance for all the puppy posts!

XOXO

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E