The New Man in My Life

A few weeks ago I was hanging out at my apartment and a thought hit me out of nowhere...

I want a dog and a boyfriend.

Yeah, I don't know where that thought came from. Nothing triggered it. I'm still confused. 

I decided I could control one of those, but I wanted to see if it was just a passing thought. So I gave it another week.

The feeling was still there, so one Sunday afternoon I went to Town Lake Animal Center to see if I could even be around dogs. It's been a year and a half since Gigi died, and I wasn't sure if I was completely ready.

After walking around the shelter and playing with dogs, I was about to walk out before realizing there was another row of dogs I hadn't seen.

And then it happened... there he was, sitting in front of the fence with those puppy eyes. I tried to walk away, but I just couldn't. I walked into the adoption office and told them I wanted to adopt.

But of course there would be drama. Seriously, is there ever a time when there's not drama when I'm involved?? In the end, I ousted a 12 year old boy and became the rightful owner of the new puppy. 

After some name suggestions from Ashley, I decided on Presley - after my love for Elvis. 

Presley is a Jack (Parson's) Russell Terrier mix. At the time, he was 8 weeks old. And like all terriers, he is an energetic one.

Which explains my lack of blogging lately. This little man is a handful. When I get home from work, I spend a good deal of time with Presley. And since he's a puppy, it's constantly "no!", "leave it!", "stop!", etc. I forgot how much time it takes with a puppy.

Presley's favorite thing to do is sleep on my legs, which he does whenever possible.

His other favorite things to do are chew on any and every thing, pull my hair out of its ponytail, run around so fast I think the carpet is going to shred out from under his speedy legs, and bite the crap out of me with his super sharp puppy teeth. And then give me the "what did I do?" look when I catch him doing suspicious things.

I would be lying if I said things were going great. He's such a loving dog. But he is definitely a handful. We are going through the growing pains right now. Some days I wonder if maybe I jumped the gun on getting a dog. For a year and a half, I was able to do whatever I wanted, whenever I wanted. Now, I have to hurry back home to let the little guy out. I have to keep a sharp eye on him when he's running around to make sure he doesn't go to the bathroom or chew something. I can't even come home, change, and lay on the couch for a few minutes. It's quite exhausting.

But then when I wake up in the morning and Presley is cuddled in a ball next to me or when I was on bed rest last week and he decided to join me... it puts a smile on my face.