But anyway. To settle us down, my dad promised that as soon as we owned or lived in our own place, he would buy us our first dog. So you can imagine my excitement when I closed on my house. I could barely contain myself as I prepared the house for moving in.
I think it was about 4 weeks after living in my house when I decided I couldn't wait any longer and dragged my family to 3 adoption shows one Saturday. I remember it was really cold and snowy but I was determined to start my search for a furry friend. It was actually at the first show we stopped at where I met my purrrrfect little puppy! Her foster name was Maroma and I couldn't stop thinking about her all day! I was so excited and her foster mom was super nice. She gave me her number and helped with the entire process.
After filling out an application, doing a home check, and buying all the supplies, Leia came to live with me. I was SO EXCITED! Except... it was definitely not a joyous first month. In fact, a few times I thought maybe I couldn't handle being a dog owner! Leia was about 8 months old and VERY rambunctious. I didn't have any experience with young dogs and had no clue what to do. She was very mouthy and wanted to play with her teeth. She also had this little game where she would lunge at my feet and bark. Non stop barking. I spent a few nights crying because I felt like such a failure. Thankfully, my friend Gina asked one of her friends for some suggestions on raising a young pitbull.
They worked! I needed to establish who the boss was and I really never thought of that. She was rescued from an abandoned building downtown and brought to a kill shelter in Chicago. Then from there, she was brought to a foster where she stayed for a few months. And then was moved to my house. I didn't really think about all she had been through in her first 8 months of life. After we established that I was indeed the boss of the house, things started to go wonderfully! The barking stopped, too!! :)
Outside of all the accidents in the house for the first few months (and all the paper towels I went through), she has been a wonderfully little lady. We went to 2 training courses through Petsmart and she can sit, down, short stay, heel, come, return, off (still need some work on that one), and shake. We have a lot of work to do.... we need to work on a long stay, a better off, and a better drop it. She is a horrible puller on walks and that has been a struggle. But I am using walking aids to help with that.
My parents were surprised and my choice of a mid sized pitbull. They both assumed that I was going to go for a small cuddly dog. But I told everyone during the entire process that I was just looking for the perfect fit. Anyway, it didn't take long for Leia to fall in love with my mom. SERIOUS love with my mom. When she sees her, she is ridiculously excited. Most of the time she cant contain it, it's really cute. My dad, on the other hand... she has always played very rough with him. Well, it turns out it wasn't just my dad, she plays rough with all men. Not sure what that's about... but she has gotten much better and now they even sit nicely together!!!
This is a pretty rare moment, where the two of them sit nicely together! :P
One thing I do is take a TON of pictures of her. I'm pretty sure that's all my instagram is... haha. Here are a few of my favorites from my phone.
Haha I love her face so much She really does sleep like this!
Another squeaky toy!!! "Hy mom, this couch is so comfy"
She loves a good car ride! And hanging out at my parent's house
She is basically the best roommate.... except she never makes dinner, cleans up, or scoops up her poops. I can easily overlook all that just so have her happy smile around all the time! I need to start planning our anniversary! :)
1 comment:
What a cutie!
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