Life moves fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

—Ferris Bueller

October has been a blur, packed full of vacation, work, blogposts, and hanging with friends and family. And now, it’s official: I’m getting a puppy, from a dog rescue (Col. Potter Cairn Rescue Network) my uncle has gotten terriers from before! I’ve felt a little out of my element getting ready for my puppy, as I’ve never had a dog before. I am an experienced hermit crab owner, though. If you need advice on surviving a crab pinching, I’m your girl.

This was my last weekend to get things done, before I do my road trip to pick up my puppy! The major advice the dog rescue adoption staff have given me is to look at everything at the dog’s height (on the floors, and low, underneath furniture, etc) to puppy-proof my house.

I was doing a bit of it here and there, over the past few months. The past 2 weekends, I did some specific tasks:

• put up a gate to block off the bedrooms, since the puppy’s crate (his safe space) will be in the guest room;
• secure some appliance cords;
• put childproof locks on the kitchen and bathroom cabinets where I have cleaners and other unsafe things;
• finish putting up my bedroom curtains and unroll out my bedroom rug (because I wanted to finish most of the biggest and disruptive tasks before getting the puppy); and
• put away random clutter.

BUT I did run out of time to get 1 thing done: set up a fenced-in area in my yard. Last spring, I had bought this 4-ft-high fence to contain a vegetable garden from the rabbits, but it was also advertised as being good for containing dogs. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to do that this weekend (depends on the weather, my energy level, and whether the ground has frozen up completely). It’s not a big deal at the moment, though, because the puppy is only 3 months and not yet housebroken and not yet leash-trained. I have my work cut out for me!

My yard is mostly fenced-in, not completely fenced-in, because there’s no gate across the driveway. And, there are a few spots where a rabbit could and has ducked under the fence, so it’s GOOD I know those escape spots! So, I have known that I wouldn’t leave a dog of mine alone in the yard, also because there was a hawk in my tree and yard more than once, in summer 2022 (that’s a post for another time).

I’ll get a longer leash, like a friend of mine has for his dog, to give my dog space to run. And, it’s good that I have so much open space inside my house, between the main floor and the large basement. Lots of places to toss dog toys without me worrying if something will break—that’s definitely important, because then I don’t have to worry about hazards if someone bumps into stuff.

I got the gate installed last weekend, blocking off the bedrooms and bathroom, for the pup’s safe space. It took me a while to install the gate, and it’ll be a pain to go back and forth between the rooms, but for a while, it will be very important to make sure the puppy is contained. Eventually, I’ll be able to take it down.

Adopting this puppy is a huge thing, because I’ll be at home most of the time, for a while. It will be like having a human baby—the puppy isn’t housebroken yet, and hasn’t had all his shots yet. So I can’t take him out yet in public on walks, or anywhere that he’d be putting his paws down (which I’ve never heard before in my life BUT I’m spending hours in a car to pick up a puppy, so of course I will take special care of him).

When I officially have my puppy, I will need to slow down and care for him. It will be good for me to be at home, though. As you guys probably know by now, I love my home! It will be nice to relax and have friends and family visit me and my adorable pup, who will be the newest member of my family. I don’t want to miss anything with my sweet new rescue puppy!

Next week, I’ll be able to go over the Paris shopping for my house!