Three weeks ago I saw an ad, with pictures, on the notice board at our local grocery store for Basset puppies. For months I’d been wearing Craig down about getting a dog and I knew that if we went to see the puppies, he’d be sold. Bassets are laid-back dogs – exactly what I had in mind. So we went and he immediately pointed this one out to me… our new dog!
Because Bassets are such “old-fashioned” dogs, we decided that she needed an old-fashioned name and eventually came up with Maggie. It suits her to a T!
We decided to let her stay with her mom and litter mates until I stopped working, so that I could be home with her. Monday evening we went to fetch her… She did NOT like the car trip, but fortunately it wasn’t too far.
She immediately started investigating her new home and seemed satisfied. We taught her to go through the pet entrance in the safety gate in the kitchen and I familiarized her with the lawn, where we hoped she would be doing her ablutions right from the start. Because she’s already 12 weeks old, she’s mostly toilet trained. Mostly. Fortunately we don’t have carpets, so I’m not too fazed by the odd accident.
Before we got her, I read up on training a puppy and got advice from lots of people. They all said the same thing: Don’t allow the puppy to do anything that you wouldn’t want her to do when she’s fully grown. Craig and I decided that we weren’t going to allow her on the furniture or our laps, because Bassets, though low to the ground, are classified as Large Breed dogs. I bought her plenty of blankets and put them next to the places we usually spend our time. I was prepared! But I didn’t count on my soft-touch husband! Less than two hours after her arrival, she was sleeping comfortably on top of Craig on the couch. Our rule has been amended now… She may lie on a blanket on the couch.
There is no way we were going to budge on the night time sleeping arrangements though. Craig and I aren’t small and we already share our Queen bed with two cats. Room for a puppy there is not, let alone a full-grown Basset. She moaned a bit, but settled down quickly in her own bed, next to ours. I get up about twice a night to take her outside and she’s very comfortable. She sighs, snuffles and groans in her sleep – too cute.
Not only is Maggie adorable, but very adoring. She follows me everywhere I go in the house. Our house is suddenly very tidy, because she will appropriate anything lying around. Like the cats’ toys…
Speaking of the cats, they are both horrified and fascinated. They’ve never been in contact with dogs before, so they have no clue what this strange, noisy, clumsy creature is. Pepper is rather scarce at the moment, but Lavis follows the Hanlie & Maggie show all over the house, making sure to always stay out of reach on top of the furniture. You can see she wants to get to know Maggie, but she’s still too scared and of course it doesn’t help that Maggies is filled with typical puppy enthusiasm. She growls and barks at her toys when she plays. That is just too intimidating for poor Lavis. We are of course giving the cats lots of love and attention and I doubt it will be long before they’re all great friends.
Life is a lot of fun in our house right now… I burst out laughing every time this dog runs! And she will just flop down anywhere for a nap. Too cute!
I am definitely going to leash train her, so that we can take a daily walk together… I need the exercise and so does she!
That’s what everybody’s been asking me since Friday. And until about 11:30 am today the answer was always, “Nothing yet!” I was glued to the phone yesterday. I kept having flashbacks to my single days, especially the ones before cell phones, when we were too scared to even take a shower lest we miss his call.
