meet porter

Is he not the cutest thing you've ever seen? This picture was taken about 5 months ago, after the first of several times he got paint on himself. Let me just say, you are very very lucky that I didn't start this blog when Honey & I first got Porter. If that were the case, you would have been inundated with nothing but stories of Porter. You will still likely get more than you ever bargained for ~ and pictures, lots & lots of pictures.

For those of you who don't know, owning a dog is nothing like owning cats, of which I am very familiar. I've had dogs most of my life ~ family dogs~ but never my very own dog, and never a puppy. Kittens come potty trained. Puppies do not. Kittens sleep through the night. Puppies do not. And while they are busy not sleeping, they are crying as though their little life is coming to end. Even Porter's supreme cuteness wasn't enough from keep me from losing my shit on more than one occasion. It was about 3 weeks of total & utter frustration, co-mingled with puppy snuggling. I was sick of getting up in the middle of the night, I was sick of standing outside saying "for the love of God, would you just pee already!!", I was sick of everyone getting to enjoy Porter but didn't have to work for it, and worse of all, I was keenly aware that I was not at all in control of the situation.

And I am not joking when I say I seriously reconsidered ever having children. Ever. I even broke the news to my mother. Sorry, but Porter's all you get. She was not pleased, but played along like a trooper.

Then, miraculously, things got better. He started to learn stuff. We taught him to sit, and everytime he actually sat, I was utterly amazed. Having been a cat person all my life, I was so not used to teaching animals tricks or even how to behave properly. Honey taught him to fetch in a matter of minutes, which had me convinced we had the smartest dog in the world. Porter, aka Doodles, can sit, shake with both paws, lay down, & fetch. He quickly stopped pissing in the house after he figured out that if he made noise at the front door, we would be all too happy to let him out. Again reaffirming that we had the smartest dog in the world.

And then, after seeing how cool it was to have a little thing love you just because, and watching him learn & grow, I decided that I might like to have a baby after all.