Published: 2024-08-20T00:00:00.000+01:00
Edited: 2024-08-20T00:00:00.000+01:00
Status: 🌲evergreen

Welcoming a new member of the family

Reading time: 3 minutes

Earlier in the year, I expressed the hope that 2024 might be the year when we finally added a canine member of the household. At the time it wasn't much more than that, a hope, with a few things in place to prepare for it.

But hope is a powerful thing, and it led us to Odie.

We found him through a charity that rescues dogs from Romania. Odie was one of their alumni who was now looking for another home due to his owners' change in circumstances. He was still living with the previous humans, which was a blessing for us. It allowed us to meet him on neutral territory and take the time to let this anxious, reactive boy warm up to us.

But warm up he did, with time and copious treats, and a little over three months ago he came over for a trial sleepover that became permanent.

The last three months have been hard work, with almost all our time and energy going towards adjusting to having a small creature who is totally dependent on us in our lives, and towards helping him adjust to his new circumstances. It was especially hard for me, as Odie took to me almost immediately and claimed me as his person. He barely left my side the first couple of weeks, not even when I went to the bathroom. It was exhausting.

As I said, he's an anxious, reactive dog, likely due to whatever he experienced prior to being rescued. He doesn't particularly like other dogs, and he will bark at people if he's startled, or he thinks their vibes are off. He also has a fair amount of separation anxiety, made worse by being rehomed.

So it's been a lot, learning what he needs and how we can best help him, especially as new pet owners. While Sam and I have had dogs in the past, this is the first time we've been totally in charge of everything, and it's been a steep learning curve.

Like I said, hard work, but oh so rewarding.

In the three months he's been with us, he has settled in very well. After a few days he was sleeping through the night instead of barking at every little sound. And we've had the privilege of watching his goofy personality come out. He loves to shred paper and cardboard, and will absolutely steal tissues out of the bin even though he's not supposed to. He's a talkative boy and will let you know when he needs something, whether you can work out what he wants or not. He loves a good cuddle and will invade your personal space to demand pets or butt scritches.

He also loves his routine; God forbid you're five minutes late to feed him or take him for a walk. I used to be able to go to bed whenever I wanted; now I get shouted at to go to bed at 10:30 every night. But at least I can go to the bathroom by myself now. Most of the time.

For all our worries about doing the right things and being good dog owners, Odie has come on leaps and bounds since coming into our care. He's less reactive on walks, and will ignore dogs and people more often than not. He's picked up new commands with ease, and will even offer those behaviours unprompted. And he coped admirably with having a strange person in his house for a week.

We still have things we need to work on, like his separation anxiety and frankly stereotypical barking at the postman. Also drying his feet when it's wet out, which he absolutely hates. It's non-negotiable, though, given that we live in Scotland.

It's been a rollercoaster of an adventure so far, and I cannot wait to see his progress after another six months or a year. The likelihood is he'll always be a reactive dog, but if we can get him so he doesn't react 90% of the time, we'll have a much happier and more relaxed dog. Not to mention happier and more relaxed humans.

It feels almost like we're coming out of a probation period right now. Like we're finally getting a handle on this dog ownership thing enough that we can spare some energy for other things. Such as writing, which has definitely taken a backseat the last three months. Things are getting easier every day, though, at least as far as Odie is concerned.

And if we really are coming out of a probation period, maybe we'll even get a good grade in dog owner. Something that is both normal to want and possible to achieve.