the monster at the bottom of the stairs. addendum

The other thing about having a dog, which I really didn't expect, is that in walking the dog you meet everyone in your neighborhood who also has a dog. And because they are dog people, they assume that in walking a dog that you too are a dog person.

And the first part of that - I've been taking walks - long walks - in my neighborhood for as long as we've lived there. And I've maybe gotten waves or nods ten times. Ever. Since I started walking Sherlock, I'm had conversations with more people than I know what to do with. And some of them more than once - because of the dog they recognize me, or at least him - and say words.
And it's unsettling. Suddenly not being faceless.

Also there's that dog person assumption - which I suppose it not totally unreasonable. Because why would you be walking a dog if you're not a dog person. But I'm not a dog person. And I'm convinced that someone, eventually, is going to figure this out.

And I don't know why I feel like there will be some kind of Dog People of Kansas City retaliation for posing as a Dog Person, but there it is.

Also, while the cat may not play with most any of the toys I buy him - at least he doesn't eat dirty Kleenex.

.the monster at the bottom of the stairs.

Meet Sherlock. The now almost 9 month old lab-hound mix puppy my Other and I adopted from Great Plains SPCA back in September. We hadn't intended on adopting a puppy - I was looking for a nice, calm, older, seasoned dog - but the Mister fell in love with this floppy face and I've brought so many cats home over the years I couldn't say no.

I refer to him as the Monster at the Bottom of the Stairs, because he's a puppy with all of that crazy puppy energy which I was totally unprepared for, and because he's not allowed up stairs for two reasons. He's still not fully potty trained, and that's where the cats lives now.

So this dog has taken over our lives.

And I've spent the last two days home with him, sick with some kind of bug that made it almost impossible to get off the couch, and it's not all bad because he's a very good nap buddy aside from peeing in his sleep sometimes. Because our new puppy is now a bed-wetter.

And our nice calm lives, which neither of us thought were very orderly, have become chaos revolving around a whirling land seal goat shark ball of chaos that eats rocks and bobby pins and wants to be friends with a cat that wants to murder him.

And we're both exhausted and nothing is getting done anymore.

So, that's fun.