Why NOW is the time.

Yesterday, for the first time in two months, I left home for the day, while my daughter tended to Mom. Ray and I drove north a couple hours to a parking lot rendezvous with a family who live two hours further north of that. They brought us the newest member of our family, Pretzel MacTíer (Irish for “wolf”). His mom is a mini blue merle Australian shepherd, and his dad is a white toy poodle. So he’s an Aussiedoodle or an Aussiepoo (or mutt, as we used to call them in the olden days). I spent a long time researching Aussiedoodles. Both parent breeds are super smart—we’ve had both before—so Pretzel will probably be smarter than both of us combined. He’s a little 5-lb bundle of sweetness right now, if you ignore his mouthful of tiny needles.

Why, in the midst of caring for Mom, and with our other furry and feathered companions, would we get a new puppy? Believe me, I’ve spent weeks asking myself that very question. The timing seems like it couldn’t be worse. We’ve been on a list for months, in line for a pick of the litter, thinking somewhere down the road. But NOW, suddenly, we end up first on the list at the same time the breeder has a litter with a male blue merle puppy (the breeder only has a couple litters each year). 

So we’re trusting the Universe. And, I can think of several reasons why bringing Pretzel home might make sense: 

1. Angel-soft puppy fur. 

2. Our dogs, Pedro and Yogi, and Mom’s dog, Oprah, are all 14 years old. Yogi is the sweetest, smartest, most gentle dog ever, and he’s in home hospice care (mast cell cancer). My goal is for him to be Pretzel’s Obi-Wan Kenobi and train the wee lad in the ways of the Jedi...Puppi…Dawgi. 

3. We desperately need all the belly laughs we can get. There’s nothing funnier than a puppy’s hind legs running faster than his front ones, or a 5 lb-er’s tiny little growl, like he sucked up a tank full of helium. 

4. Puppy smells. 

5. We’ll groom Pretzel to become our solo retirement road-dawg. 

6. We’re celebrating our recent 33rd anniversary, which everyone knows is the puppy anniversary.

I’m reminded of the Hopi concept of koyaanisqatsi, or “life out of balance.” After a couple months of home-bound tending, I can occasionally settle into a somber and solitary, sometimes pretty grey place. There’s something about puppyhood amid this vigil that restores balance, pulls me out of my head, uplifts me with life-giving puppy chasing. Pretzel is a constant reminder that even now, there is life, hilarity, and soon, tiny holes in every sock.

“There are some simple truths…and the dogs know what they are.” --Joseph Duemer