This sleepy little lady is the five week old Black Lab/German Shepherd mix who belongs to my downstairs neighbor. Isn't she precious? I volunteered to petsit her two weekss ago and am just now getting around to posting my experience. I offered to take her for the sheer fact that she was so darn cute. When I offered, my neighb said "seriously? For real? That's awesome! That means I can get some sleep!" I honestly thought that he was exaggerating because he's a boy and isn't used to taking care of things [Disclaimer: yes, I know there are guys who are wonderful at taking care of things, but he isn't one of them (and I'm going to go ahead and make the blanket statement that most 22 year old guys are like him in that sense)]. Anyways, I though he was being dramatic. I mean, it's a two pound ball of preciousness; how hard can it really be?
Let me preface this next part by saying that I have owned and been around pets my entire life. We've had cats, turtles, fish, and the most perfect dog ever (and the first love of my life), Minnie, who we unfortunately had to put to sleep this past September. I would absolutely positively categorize myself as an animal lover, and I'd even go so far as to say that I am more patient and understanding with animals than humans because, generally speaking, humans have control over their lives and animals do not.
RIP Minnie
All that being said, there is absolutely no way I am prepared for a small puppy in my life. Within ten minutes of being in my apartment, Lonnie had both peed and pooped on the floor. And by pooped, I mean puppy diarrhea that had the consistency of green algea and smelled like rotten eggs sprinkled over maggot-infested meat. It. Was. Awful. Pair that with the fact that it happened every 43 minutes and you've got yourself the reason I'm not quite prepared for puppy ownership. Sleeping was essentially impossible, and when I "woke up" for work the next day, I had to look wretched. I scooped up Lonnie and all her belongings and marched straight downstairs at precisely 7:01 to return her to my neighbor. He thanked me and I think I may have put a mental hex on him. Please no one ever let me do this again.
