Puppy Leave

What do you call it when you're on vacation, but you're doing the opposite of relaxing because you are training a new puppy? Puppy Leave? Puppernity?

I have had Wrigley for five days.** Here are some things that have changed:
1. My entire life.

End of post.
Ha ha. :) Okay . . . . I'll give you a little more specifics.

1. I will never need an alarm clock again.
2. I'm an insomniac, and I have never been so exhausted.
3. I wash my hands 8000 times a day.
4. My floor is littered with dog toys.
5. My shoes are all in closets or stored on high chairs/shelves. (See #4 - Wrigley likes to trade one for the other).
6. I take a lot of walks. Where I watch my puppy investigate Every.Damn.Sidewalk.Crack in Madison.
7. I've accidentally flushed a waste-bag-holder down the toilet. The saddest part about this so far is that I had JUST refilled it with a new roll of bags. Hopefully this will continue to be the saddest part of this debacle, and not that I'll need to bring in a plumber.
8. When I go to a store with any kind of pet supplies, I have to check them out (groceries/Target/Walgreens/etc).
9. I'm pretty sure I'm going to need to delete apps off my phone so I will have more storage memory for all the photos I'm taking. I won't tell you how many I've taken already - but mostly because I'm too tired to count. It's a lot.
10. I'm turning into my mother. No phone conversation is without at least ten breaks so I can tell Wrigley to "stop chewing on fill-in-the-blank." Sorry friends and family. I can only hope this will get better, but I'm not confident enough yet to make any promises.

I don't want you to think that I'm not loving this new experience. I am. Wrigley and I are definitely co-chairs in our mutual admiration society. I'm quite smitten with this cute pup. She's changed and grown and learned so much so far. She is very smart, and I am quite proud of all the progress she's made already!

Here are a few things that Wrigley has learned so far:
1. "Good girl."
2. Her name is Wrigley. :)
3. Sit. [Well . . . we're still working on this one, but she's getting there!]
4. Instead of needing to be carried outside to "do her thing" (go potty), she confidently walks down the hall, into the stairwell and outside! Stairs are really hard! Momma is quite proud of this feat. Wrigley still needs a little encouragement to go down, but she's got the hang of going up them!
5. If she's scared about something new, she slows down and walks closer to her momma.
6. Walking across streets is Stressful! Sometimes she sits down in the middle of them. Then momma is stressed! We have been lucky that so far the cars waiting have found this to be entertaining.
7. Wrigley is extroverted and stubborn, just like her momma.
8. People love puppies! And this puppy loves people! In fact, when someone walks past us and they don't acknowledge her, Wrigley clearly looks offended and feels snubbed.
9. Toys are awesome. Especially the washable ones, in case someone has an accident. Also awesome? The deodorizing odor neutralizer. (Sadly) we use this a few times a day.
10. Her momma loves her a whole lot.

**Please note, this WAS written when she was home for 5 days. But it's taken three more to get it published. Such is my life now.