Raising Stance

Meet Stance. He's a sweet little Terrier mix that my boyfriend and I adopted from a shelter. He's two years old with the characteristics of an six month old puppy. We have had him for about a month and it has been so fun.

But, also, a little frustrating.

Training a dog, is like raising a child; it's time consuming and there is always poop to be picked up. He jumps onto things he isn't supposed to. Such as, the dinner table or the kitchen counter. I swear he is part cat.

Before deciding on Stance, we had visited a few shelters, where I fell in love with every single dog I saw. A lot of them were bigger dogs and living in a one bedroom apartment, I would've felt guilty leaving it in such a small space. Finally, after a few days of looking, we headed to PetSmart, where they usually have a Halo adoption center set up in the store.

Walking past each kennel, I fell in love, again, with every dog I saw. We played with a rambunctious 8 month old golden retriever mix. He was the sweetest, most hyper thing ever, but he was going to get so big.

Now, I have no problem with big dogs. My parents have an almost two year old Rottweiler that I love to death. I just didn't want to cramp a big dog in a small space.

We ended up walking around again, playing with a little Chihuahua named Chloe. She was the sweetest thing ever.

But, there had been one other little dog that caught my eye.

His name was Igor. I put my hand up to the kennel, which he caustiously walked over to and sniffed. He looked at me and gave my finger a little lick. I melted immediately.

I told my boyfriend, "Go look at Igor." I knew in my heart he was the one I wanted. The name, however, was going to have to go. My boyfriend and the PetSmart employee quickly returned with the scruffy little guy. He ran over to us, wiggling his butt the whole way. He has the cutest little spot of grey hair, despite being only 2, on the top of his head that reminds me of a little old man.

"I want him," I said to my boyfriend, over and over again. He was just the most perfect little pup. I had to take him home.

Eventually, the employee wandered off to put together the paperwork. My car loving boyfriend looks at the little dog, who tries to escape out of the door as it opens, and says "Stance!" And for whatever reason, this little dog who was stuck with the name Igor due to a random name generator, responds to a name he has only just heard. He jumps up into my lap and sits contently.

Paperwork and a quick visit to my parents so that they can meet the new "grandpuppy" later, we are home with our very own dog.

This is where our adventure begins.

Now, with our new pup, we expected some house training issues. With a new place, comes new territory. He started off peeing on the bathroom floor, which gratefully was tile. It was an easy clean. Then, after being shoved out of the bathroom due to the smell of clean tile, he took to peeing on the carpet, which was not as easy of a clean.

We moved onto puppy pads, which he began quickly using the bathroom on. Under instruction of my mom, once he started regularly using the bathroom on the pads move them outside to show him that is where he is meant to potty.

This dog, I swear, is almost as stubborn as I am. I think he thinks it's funny when he poops next to the pad.

He has defintiely improved, using the bathroom outside when we walk around with him for about half an hour, sometimes only peeing, sometimes both.

Lately, he's been extra difficult by getting into things he shouldn't. Such as jumping on the kitchen counter when repeatedly told and disciplined not to. I think he finds it humorous at this point. Or, I don't know, jumping on the counter and knocking off a glass bowl or snatching the dish sponge and chewing it to bits. Stuff like that.

He's also taken to chewing on pill bottles (and thankfully NOT eating the antibiotics in side) or stealing birth control packets and running around the apartment with them because he thinks we are playing chase when we are definitely not.

Now, don't get me wrong, I absolutely adore this dog and would never get rid of him. A lot of these occurences end up being pretty funny as long as he isn't harmed from eating a sponge or chewing on my makeup brushes.

This is why I am convinved he is not two. I swear he is a baby puppy.

I also just don't think his previous owners did a good job at helping him to learn what is right and wrong. Now, me and my boyfriend are slowly but surely correcting these behaviors.

We've taken to using the kennel my parents used to crate train their Rottweiler to train Stance. We put him in it when we leave with a blanket, toy, and some water for while we are gone.

We've had it for about a week or so and have only put him in it once as usually one of us is typically home. Also, he cried for 15 minutes after only being it in for barely an hour one time.

It made me sad.

Now, here we are, with the sweetest, most stubborn pup ever.

I hope to update you with more, funny stories regard goofy little Stance. I promise there is more to come.