Meet the New Member of the Meltingpot Family

Hello Dear Readers,

Please excuse my absence this week. I didn’t mean to abandon the meltingpot, but when I woke up on Monday morning, I had no idea my life was about to change.

So…what had happened was. (Warning: This is a long-ass post, so settle in and get comfortable.)

MY FIRST MISTAKE
My kids have been begging for a pet for the last two years or so. We had a dog when my boys were six and three years old. I bought the puppy without much thought or research and it was the biggest mistake of my life. With one kid just out of diapers, our finances in a precarious position and my knowledge of dog training at a 1.5, it was a disaster. Luckily, my son’s babysitter – an older woman who was about to become an empty nester – was desperate for a pet, so I gave her our dog and he lived happily ever after with her. Meanwhile, I was scarred from the experience and swore I’d never get a dog because they were just too much work and too expensive.

THE CON ARTIST
Fast forward to two years ago. My kids were now 14, 11 and 4. They wanted a pet. They promised to help out. I still wasn’t convinced. But then fate intervened. We moved. Our new house had a mouse problem. We bought/rescued a cat. Our house was soon rid of mice and my kids had a pet. Problem solved, except our cat, Sierra, isn’t very nice, which is a good thing if you’re in the mouse murdering business. Needless to say, Sierra is not exactly a snuggle bunny. In fact, if you try to pet Sierra when she’s not in the mood, which is most days and nights, she’ll scratch or bite you. The only time Sierra is affectionate is when she wants to eat, then she’s your best friend for the five minutes it takes for you to open a can of cat food. I refer to her as a con artist.

EVERYBODY ELSE IS DOING IT, BUT…
So, we start talking dogs again. It seems many of our friends and neighbors with kids were getting dogs and their lives are just as complicated and busy as ours. They made it look easy. My brother and his girlfriend rescued a dog and she fast became my fur niece. She often visits and our whole family loves her, except Sierra of course. Sierra tried to scratch her eyes out. And just like that, I start to believe that maybe, just maybe, we can have a dog now. I have a steady job (a job, I might add, where I could actually bring a dog to work with me.), the boys are old enough to do most of the walking, feeding and maintenance required for a dog, and nobody is wearing diapers.

I grew up with dogs. We always had standard poodles. We also had a few rescue dogs but they didn’t last long for one reason or another. The point is, my childhood included dogs. I wanted the same for my children, but I still worried a dog would disrupt our lifestyle too much, particularly with travel. Our ideal summer scenario includes a long trip to Europe to visit el esposo‘s family. What would we do with a dog?

As we seriously started to contemplate getting a dog, I decided that if we did get one, I definitely wanted to get some sort of poodle mix because poodles are so smart and full of personality, once you have one, it’s hard to be satisfied with other breeds. Plus, they’re hypoallergenic and there are a lot of people with allergies in my extended family. And I figured if we got a smaller poodle mix, we could easily travel with our new fur family member. Lately it has become easier to travel with dogs, particularly if they can fit in a carrier under your airplane seat. Babygirl asked for a little pink poodle or a teddy bear poodle and I thought that would be the perfect fit for our family. Now I just had to find one.

After doing my research, I made the firm decision that we would rescue a dog, not buy one from a breeder or pet store. Besides the fact that I couldn’t justify paying thousands of dollars for a designer dog, I also wanted to give a home to an animal that otherwise wouldn’t have a home or might even be destined for an early death if not rescued.

PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT
So, last weekend, we fur-babysat for our neighbor’s 9-month-old golden doodle. She is exactly what my daughter wanted. Diminutive, female, fluffy and so sweet and well-trained. Even el esposo, who claims he doesn’t want a dog, liked this dog. By Sunday night, after our furry visitor went home, the whole family agreed, we should get a dog. It was great having her in the house, it was fun taking her for walks, and because she was so well-trained, she didn’t disrupt our regular activities at all. So, Sunday night, after the kids went to bed, I went and looked at the available dogs on a rescue website suggested by a friend. I’d been lurking on this site for months, but had never seen a young poodle mix, but that night I saw two black, 5-month old labradoodles who were available. I didn’t know how long they’d been available, but I didn’t expect my application would be chosen. I just applied so my name would be in their system so the next time a doodle came up – which I knew would most likely be a long time – I’d be first on the list.

A LEAP OF FAITH
The next morning, Monday, I got the call. I had been chosen and if I wanted this dog, he was mine. He had been rescued from a puppy mill and was now living with his brother at a horse farm. He wasn’t crate trained, house broken and had never lived inside a house. And by the way, he wasn’t diminutive. The foster parent said he was large and would probably get larger. I said, ‘what do you mean large?’ She said he weighed about forty pounds. I told her I’d get back to her. I called my brother, my mother and some friends. They all told me to get the dog. They said getting a doodle puppy from a rescue organization was so rare. I talked to the kids and el esposo. The kids said, “mommy, please get the dog.” El esposo said, “I don’t want a dog, but if everybody else does, I won’t say no.” That was a unanimous yes to me. So I called back the next day, and said, “we’ll take the dog.” Looking at my work schedule, I figured I could pick him up early the following week. The woman laughed. “He won’t be here next week. I have 20 other people who’ve submitted applications.” So, with much regret, I told her that I just couldn’t get my life organized that fast to bring home a new dog.

And then I went to work. It was Tuesday. The day I work from 9 am to 9 pm. But I couldn’t get the picture of the puppy out of my head. Plus, the puppy’s foster mom had texted me a picture, so I literally couldn’t forget what he looked like. I showed him to a few colleagues at work, as well as to some of my students. They all said the same thing when I told them about the puppy. GO GET THE DOG! At the end of the day, everybody told me that I was over thinking how much care he would need in the four days I thought I was going to be out of commission because I had a speaking engagement in New Jersey and a conference to attend over the weekend. They said I would regret this decision because he seemed like a great dog. So, at 5:00pm, right before teaching my last class of the day, I texted the foster mom and asked if the puppy was still available. He was. So, I said, “I’ll be there tomorrow morning to get him.” All night I prayed I was making the right decision.

MEET MY NEW FUR BABY
And that, my dear readers, is how Baldwin joined our meltigpot family on Wednesday. The moment I saw his big hairy face, I knew he was meant to be ours. His mother was a Black standard poodle and his father was a golden labrador retriever, so just like my children, he has a Black mom and a white dad. He’s obviously mixed because he’s mostly black, but he has a tell-tale white patch on his chest and a smattering of gold on his right paw. Despite his unfortunate origins, Baldwin is the sweetest, most affectionate, gentle giant ever. And he doesn’t weigh 40 pounds, he weighs sixty pounds and the vet said he could top out at 100! We already love him so much, even el esposo, who is teaching him Spanish.

I’m apologizing right now in advance, because I’m probably going to be talking about Baldwin here on the Meltingpot a lot. I may just become one of those people who talks about her dog like the second coming of Christ. I already think he’s just one, big, furry, miracle. Also, I may be soliciting advice for best practices for big dogs, from doggie training to doggie products, to vacation spots where one can take their dog. I welcome it all.

Now, who can guess why we named our dog Baldwin? Leave your best guess in the comments below! Thanks for reading this super long post.

Peace + Big Puppy Feet!