Janet Janet Janet

Here are some random things about me and my newly adopted dog Janet.

- I am now never alone. Every night as I come home, my dog Janet greets me with glee. She jumps up and down in excitement to see me. Or perhaps she just needs to go pee badly. She follows me every where I go in the house. She lay down by my feet when I am in the living room, office and even kitchen. The bathroom is the only place she is not allowed to follow me. She would even attempt to stare at me when I am sitting in the throne! I would promptly close the door.

- American dogs are high maintenance. Back in the Philippines, we just feed the dog once a day with left overs and they were fine. This milieu of mixed left overs even includes chicken bones. We leave them 24/7 outdoors and they poo and pee on their own. And most of them have never seen a Veterinarian. Here in the USA, dogs get to eat dog food, see the Vet, be taken out for walks and even get to have outfits and toys. I suppose with all the invested money for all these dog related care, one tends to safeguard their investment by not risking feeding the dog with chicken bones. That I realized first hand. But I must say that all those money spent are worth it. There is not a day that pass that Janet does not make me smile and laugh.

- Having a dog is definitely like having a small child. Now I have another life I am responsible for. I can not just go shopping for hours after work since I have to go home and walk Janet. I have sets of dog related duties to do before I head out for work. I do not go clubbing till 4 AM every weekend as I did before. I have to adjust my sleeping and waking schedule to accommodate Janet's needs. I have to dog proof my house and not just leave food in the couch or coffee table. At least she is small and can't reach the regular table. My life style did indeed change. And at this point, it is a change that is worth it. She had taught me to be less selfish and that is always a good thing.

- Training Janet to do good things and not do bad things is challenging. Sometime she just won't listen when she gets too distracted. But with patience and consistency, I am seeing progress. I can not wait for the day when I have a truly obedient dog that everybody envies.

- In retrospect, I now know that the bowel accidents Janet had were a result of my failure to understand her properly. She does show signs when she needs to go pee and poo. I now am more attuned to these signs. My learning process continues but I am hoping that I can read her better now to prevent accidents in the house.