I would say “sorry it has been a few weeks” but I’m not really that sorry;) We’ve been spending every second with our brand new pup, Blue (or, Blue Boy), since bringing him home just about a week ago.

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It has been quite the transition back into puppy-parenting (the last time we did this was in 2018!) and it is pretty crazy to think that even though he has been with us for just over two weeks, he is already the center of our world.

After losing Lincoln five months ago, we have been counting down the seconds until we’d be ready to bring another little GSP pup into our lives, and – since we finally are – we are on (a very sleep-deprived) Cloud 9 over here.

I like to think about it like this: you can never replace a dog, but your heart just gets bigger with each one.

We’re knee-deep in crate and clicker training. The latter going significantly better than the former but we’re still working on it;)

Last night was kind of the straw that broke our backs and we have a strict crate training plan that – one day in – we’re pretty confident with.

Actually, as I type he is happily chewing away at a treat in his crate. But, he did a LOT of screaming up until about three minutes ago so hopefully, I’m not jinxing it.

Blue Boy Learnings

Although puppies teach you a whole lot when it comes to patience, selflessness, and how to be a real-life functioning human with minimal zzz’s, puppy “parenting” together is also such a great relationship builder. And great practice for future baby parenting, I’d guess.

There were definitely some unexpected feelings this time around and a few OLD puppy things we completely forgot about.

(Side note, he just started makin’ a fuss again so I definitely jinxed it.)

After just a day of getting Blue home, we were quickly reminded of how easy it is to talk to each other through a dog… especially about things that are tougher to say to someone’s face.

If you have a pet with a friend or partner, I bet you know exactly what I mean. I regularly catch myself saying things like “Blue, dad really needs to do the dishes” or Sam will say things like “Ask mom to bring you out!”

But, there were some really new and unexpected feelings this time around as well… on my side especially.

Keeping it Separate

Because we lost Lincoln so suddenly and unexpectedly, I definitely have some underlying fears that the same thing will happen again, no matter how hard I work to keep Blue safe.

This led me to want him to be with (read: cuddling on) me AT ALL TIMES. But can you blame me?! LOOK HOW CUTE!

But, there is a 99.9% chance that this is why his crate training hasn’t been going too hot. The low-grade separation anxiety he has because of the HIGH-grade separation anxiety I had.

(Update: He’s asleep again)

I take full responsibility and ownership for needing to take deep breaths, lean on Sam, friends, and family and cool my jets a bit.

He is surrounded by so much love and so many watching eyes. I am working to find peace in that.

I can only control so much and the biggest thing I CAN do is make sure that he can learn to do his own thing, be a confident and happy pup with or without me and continue to grow into a well-behaved adult dog.

A Week In The Life of Blue Boy

If I come back in another life, I want it to be as a (well-loved) puppy. Blue has been living his best life (outside of the crate) over here. He has met our friends and family and even had a few puppy playdates with our friend’s new puppy AND his brother. Life has been GOOD over here.

(Awake, looking around, no screaming… we’re getting somewhere!)

I’ve been working from the store with Sam so we can tag-team puppy parenting and training. I love that this gets me out of the house (since I work from home!), talking to people through the day and I stand a TON more at the store than I do at home.

He goes back and forth between cuddling at my feet, cuddling in his crate (recently!) and spending time with dad!

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We have a vlog coming your way ALLLL about #bringinghomeblue. Once we get a few more hours of sleep and a hot second to throw it together (shout out to crate training) it will be up in the VLOG section of our YouTube channel.

In the meantime, thank you for following along as always. We appreciate you <3