Three Months Later

Sunday nap time with Dad. Can't smush my face close
enough to his leg.

It has been just over three months since the day we met Barry and brought him home. I think it feels like so much longer than that. Yet, every now and then I look over at him and think how strange it is that we have a dog. I can't believe how much he has transformed our lives. I think if we had a yard in the suburbs or land in a rural area this blog might not have needed to exist. Living in a big city with so many people and other dogs in extremely close proximity, and little room to play means we have to really be on our game. We can't have Barry pulling us down the sidewalk and lunging at other dogs or people (he's never lunged at a person). He needs to be close to us on walks and as calm as he can be. We expect typical outbursts and the occasional excited happy lunge (it's a happy lunge - he's not lunging because he's malicious - he just wants to meet the new dog). He will not be perfect and I will accept that. We will do what we can to make sure that others view Barry as a happy and well behaved dog, and not a mean and ferocious pit bull. Anyway - he's not even a true pit bull. He's already bigger than a "true" pit bull - whatever that even means. "Pit bull" is a mix breed anyhow and Barry is about 5 -10 lbs heavier than what is normal for a true pittie. I don't care what makes up his DNA. I love this guy so much and to me he's beautiful and perfect. Husband agrees and we couldn't be happier.

I started this blog because I like to talk through issues. When we first brought Barry home we had our hands full and the issues kept mounting. I felt like I was imploding. I didn't want to give up on him but that would have been so easy to do at the same time. We see this scenario so often. A family gets a pet and they have unrealistic expectations of what that's supposed to look like (I know I did). You might get lucky and have the most well behaved and calm dog in the world. Maybe you'll never have an issue arise. Chances are, though, that you will have issues. Many many issues. Then the pet gets taken back to the pound or shelter because the family doesn't have the time or patience to give to train the pet. Can you guess what happens to most of the animals that get taken back to the pound or shelter after they've been adopted? I can't even write it down.

This was taken during the days when we were feeling
overwhelmed and frustrated. Just a few days after he
used his face to escape from his crate.

So the blog was born out of my frustration and a need to view our situation from another angle. It became therapy for me and then I would read what I had written and realize that our issues were so similar to many other pet bloggers I started following. I realized that we weren't alone and our burden was carried by many others. It helped me put things into perspective. These issues we were having were insignificant and would pass. This would pass. And it did. Life with Barry has gotten progressively better and easier. He is still a lot of work and he's quite high maintenance but that is because of the situation we've put him in (bringing him to the city). I think it's extremely important to note that he is high maintenance ONLY because we live in the city. It's not because he's actually a high maintenance dog. Sure we'd have work to do with him if we lived in a large home with land in Somewhere Rural America. I can tell you, though, it would be significantly less work.

No matter the weather - in order for Barry to go to the
bathroom we have to take him outside on a leash. We
would love to have a yard and let him run around and
do his thing but we manage okay with the situation
as it is.

I enjoy writing this blog. It has become a good and healthy hobby and the best excuse to take lots of pictures of Barry. Even more than all of that, I hope that someone with the same frustration as we endured during the first weeks of life with Barry find this blog and it helps to bring them through the issues and encourages them to stick with it just a little longer.

We are three months into this now and I wouldn't take it back for the world. We've gotten a lot more happiness from him than frustration and it just keeps getting better. I'm glad we stuck it out.

Thanks for sticking wif me. I wuv you.