Broads Are Sneaky (or I'm Dumb or Whoopeee!!)

The Surprise.

I get an IM yesterday from my girl telling me that she has a bad headache and will probably come home early, maybe around 2 or 2:30. I tell her I'll be leaving for the gym around 2 and she practically cries like a baby demanding that I be home when she gets home. Or maybe she just asked. Whatever. 

I change my schedule to go to the gym earlier and be home by 2:30, which I was. I was also in the shower when she got home, as I tend to do after sweating profusely for 60 minutes. When she pops her head in the shower to tell me she's home I ask how her head is feeling. She says she has some good news and some bad news. 

The good news is that she doesn't have a headache. The bad news is that I wasn't supposed to be in the shower when she got home because she has a surprise for me and we have to be somewhere. Hmm...where could we have to be? "Did baseball season start early and you're taking me to Opening Day?" I ask. "Yes, baby," she says, "so dress warm."

She's changed into sweats from work clothes and suggests sweats for me as well. "Flip flops okay?" To which she replies, "You'd be warmer in shoes." Okay, so we're definitely going outside. 

We get on the road and our estimated arrival time (compliments of our GPS Device, Lee) is just before 3:30. We're heading to the freeway. The 405. The 605. The 91. Exiting Beach Blvd. 6 miles on Beach. A right. A left. Another turn. A windy road. Into the hills. She asks if I know where we're going yet. "Not a clue. Not even trying to guess."

We pull up to our final destination, a house on the left. A big house. A Land Rover in the driveway. Is that Ann's car? Why would Ann be here? This house is in the boonies...EJ's not thinking about buying a this house...no, she would go through Jenifer to buy a house...no, she wouldn't just buy a house. "Any guesses yet?" she asks nervously as we walk up towards the door. "Ummm...no."

She rings the doorbell. A woman answers. "You must be Jodi," EJ says to the woman holding a puppy in her arms. EJ looks back at me, wide eyed, wondering if I get it yet. I look at her. I look at Jodi. I look at the puppy. OhMyGod, a PUPPY! "We're here for the puppy!!"

I ask if I can hold him and Jodi hands him right over. He's a dark brown-black with bits of chocolate extending down his arms and through his paws. There's a white patch on his chest and random bits of white in his front paws. His face is sweet, his eyes are curious brown (that just changed from blue, so you can still see a hint of blue just around the edges), and he smells like a puppy, through and through. 

Getting Him Home.

After we signed the adoption paperwork Jodi gave us a ziplock baggie full of the food he's been eating and we were on our way. Aside from a little anxiety in the car right as we left, the pup was pretty chill and lay quietly in my lap for most of the ride home (except when he woke himself up with a rancid fart, for which we had to roll down all the windows & open the sunroof). On the way home we stopped at the local pet store and proceeded to spend $200 on just the essentials: toys, treats, gate, leash, poop bags, and free samples of food. We were also accosted by every woman worker in the joint. I thought Liz the Lez was going to offer to come home with us to show us how to take care of him. Thanks, Liz but umm...we got it. 

Once home, we shooed the cats into the guest bedroom, set up the gate, and let Jackson into his new home to slide around on the hardwood floors like a wobbly 10-week old pup should. Within 20 minutes he found a spot to pee. On the welcome rug. Welcome, Jackson. While he did end up peeing inside one more time, he at least had the courtesy to do so on the hardwood floor. As for #2...

He was a good boy last night and got a treat for taking care of business on the lawn in front of the building. This morning when he went on the carpet, he got no such treat. But we did catch him before he cleared himself out completely, and were able to get him to finish business outside. 

Separation Anxiety.

This boy will be a mama's boy. Good thing he has two mamas. When he can't see one of us, he whimpers & looks around for the other one. And when he can't find either of us, he turns into the part Beagle that he is--all calm Lab traits go out the window and you'd think someone was tossing him around by his tail. 

Jackson seems to not mind the crate, as long as he can see us from it. He'll go in on his own and chill there, whether the door is open or closed. Of course, all that changed when we tried to go to bed.

The crate is set up in the living room. And we sleep in the bedroom. Which means he can't see us. But we can hear him. And so can the neighbors. After a solid 3 minutes of whining turned into outright barking, we moved the crate into the bedroom. Not a chance in hell that pup is getting into bed with us, but as long as he's in his crate, sleeping in the same room is A-OK with me. 

He slept like a...see, now I've always disliked the "slept like a baby" term because babies tend to wake up every 2 hours crying after they've peed & pooped themselves into oblivion...so I'll just say...like me after a pub crawl, only without the snoring. 

He was excited to get up and get out for a pee, although it seems I brought him in too early (as noted by the #2 incident above). So far day one has been pretty chill. I've taught him to sit (with the help of treats), and pee on the hardwood floor--oh no wait...he taught himself that. Currently, he's sleeping on my backpack next to me while I hold my two glasses of water in so as to avoid his aforementioned anxiety attacks. Where's an FUD when you need one?

The Cats.

Killer wants just about nothing to do with Jackson. She's content under the bed or under a chair where she's completely out of his sight. Sly, on the other hand is a bit more curious as to who's trying to com into his territory. There's been a bit of hissing, some growling, and even a couple misunderstandings. Seems that Jackson doesn't understand that Sly only wants to sniff him, not play with him. sly hisses and swats at Jackson's nose to clear up the miscommunication. But Jackson isn't so much with the learning without the treats, so this could go on for a while, unless Sly learns to give Jackson treats when he behaves deservingly. 

I have no doubt that in a month's time Sly & Jackson will be BFF's and Killer will be indifferent to the both of them. In the meantime, don't expect posts on all the cute things Jackson does. I'm not one of those people. And this clearly isn't the forum for it. 

Meet Jackson: