I honestly can not believe that I have been responsible for keeping a whole living creature alive for a year! It has been such a fun year being a dog owner. I introduced you to our pup Kaptain in this post here. It seems like just yesterday that we spontaneously decided to get a dog! And shout out to Husbae, because otherwise I would’ve spent longer trying to plan out every single detail and preparing before picking him up and we might have missed out on having him!
I’ve had dogs in my life for a while (since I was 10), but this was the first time that I (and Selwyn) was solely responsible for a dog. I talk all about what I think you should really know before you get a dog here and have an entire list of supplies that you can get for your pup here.
The High’s
Never being alone
Since I work from home most days even though I have a corporate job, the day time can get kind of lonely. With Kaptain, he literally follows me every where I go in the house. If I’m up for longer than 5 seconds, even if he was sleeping he will get up and find me. A girl can’t even go to the bathroom in peace! lol
Watching Him Learn
It is the coolest thing to see the milestones that he has reached. Since he is a dog, all of these things happen a lot faster than a baby. And the best part is watching him learn the tricks that we have taught him. He can sit, lay down, roll over, high five, double high five and come (when he wants to lol).
He’s always, and I mean always, excited to see us
Even if you have had a bad day, if you come to our house or see Kaptain in the street he is guaranteed to make you smile. He absolutely loves people (especially kids) and other dogs. Whenever we come back through the door whether it has been 5 minutes or 5 hours, he always has the same energy.
Celebrating his half birthday and actual birthday!
I’ll basically find any excuse for a celebration so I got to take Kaptain to one of his favorite places (Unleashed) and he picked out a new toy for his half birthday and then for his actual birthday he got to try doggy ice cream and we got him some toys from Bark Box!
Finding great pet sitters from the Rover App
I honestly was kind of stressed about using Rover to find someone to watch Kaptain, but I knew if we found the right people it would be a better environment for him than being crated in a kennel all day. He absolutely loved each house he has gotten to stay at. And each person we have found has been great and sent us a ton of pictures and updates on his activities. Whenever we pick him up from staying at someone’s house he is always exhausted for the rest of the day until he can get readjusted to our normal routine.
If you want $20 off your first Rover stay for your pup, you can get it when you sign up using my link here!
The Low’s
Allergies/Getting sick
Shortly after we got Kaptain neutered, he was pretty sick for a few days. It was the saddest thing ever! All of the excitement and energy he usually has was gone. He was still eating/drinking/going potty regularly but it was like he had a cold! He was sneezing, had a runny nose and was super low energy. We took him to the vet and they gave us allergy pills and shortly after he was back to his crazy self!
As a dog owner, any kind of medical issue is always stressful but especially for dogs because they can’t verbally communicate exactly what is wrong or how they feel. Thankfully this was the worst of his medical issues!
Potty Training
I talked more about this in the post I mentioned before, but to put it simply, potty training while living in a high rise apartment is a challenge! Not impossible – but a challenge. Those Potty training days felt like they would last forever. Thankfully he caught on at a decent speed and we were able to get him on a good schedule. He only goes about 3-4 times now and it literally used to be double or even more than that.
Getting Over Stressful dog interactions
We had more of these before he was neutered. Apparently dogs that are neutered know when other male dogs are still intact and feel threatened. There were times when he was literally only a few months 3-4 months and a dog would aggressively bark at him. Kaptain is totally clueless because he loves everyone and would just sit confused wagging his tail and waiting to play.
Overtime I’ve been able to pick up on the non verbal doggy clues as a dog owner and I already know which dogs have attitudes. It’s crazy – there are a couple of dogs in the area that just aggressively bark at all other dogs.
Random Updates:
- We found a great groomer at Loyal Companion! His haircuts always come out perfectly
- He got neutered
- He got to experience a dog park setting
- He got to go to the beach
- He went to a festival
- He has gotten to eat at a restaurant with us
Make sure you follow us on Instagram! I’m here @bosslady_brand and Kaptain is @Kaptainthecavapoo . Are you thinking about becoming a dog owner? Let me know if you have any other questions!
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