Pandemic puppy love

Must-have items for a pandemic: toilet paper, flour and puppies.

If you haven’t gotten a dog during the pandemic, you definitely know someone who did. Dogs are popping up all over the place: at the park, on your walk to the coffee shop, driving by in cars (as passengers, of course). Everywhere you go, you see someone you know with a new dog.

We definitely crumbled to the PPP: the Pandemic Puppy Pressure. In July we welcomed Finley, a five-month-old, part Chihuahua rescue, into our family. He is our first family dog and it’s been a learning curve for everyone.  

10 pandemic puppy pro tips

In case you’re considering getting a pandemic puppy, here are some things we’ve learned over the past 8 months:

1.      Be prepared to re-arrange your furniture so that your dog can sit in the sun and look out the window.

2.      Buy window cleaner in bulk because, along with fingerprints, you’ll now constantly be cleaning puppy snot off your windows.

3.      Like with a baby, be prepared to puppy proof your home. Socks aren’t safe unless they’re in a closed drawer.

4.      You’ll need a puppy toy box to contain all the toys you’re going to buy your new dog. (And he’d still rather play with socks.)

5.      Home workouts will never be the same. You’ll burn extra calories jumping over your dog, while it lies in the middle of your living room. And you’ll up the intensity of your crunches when you have a dog sitting on your stomach.

6.      If you have a 13 year old cat, she will never warm up to the new dog. You may have visions of them snuggling on the couch together, but it’ll never happen. Every time the dog walks by, she’ll hiss and take a swat at him.

7.      If you ever can’t find your dog, look in the pile of clean, warm clothes on the couch.

8.      The size of your dog will directly correlate to how often your kids will pick up its poop. The bigger the dog, the bigger the kid’s gag reflexes. (I’m happy Finley is only 13 pounds.)

9.      Warn your friends and family that they will be bombarded with puppy photos. You may even go as far as to create an Instagram account for your new dog. (You can follow along with Finley’s adventures at @finleythedog2020.)

10.  The puppy snuggles, excuse to go on a family walk every evening, and smiles on your kids’ faces when they greet the puppy at the door after school will make numbers 1 to 9 all worth it.