Our puppy Maple turned 13 weeks old on Friday. She had her first bath this week. It was time. She was beginning to smell a little like pee. It was also prompted at about 8:30pm just after we let her outside. Just before that she was out of her pen and about to be let outside by my husband. She decided to make a pit stop over by me first. I was on the couch in the fireplace room, holding an iPad and watching an episode of a Netflix show. All of a sudden I felt like someone spit on me. My husband was over by the sliding glass door so I knew it wasn’t him. Why would he spit on me anyway? But I had to rule it out. Her tail was wagging wildly. Then I put it together. It was Maple’s pee. It was about then my husband noticed the floor in her pen had a wet spot. The familiar puppy print puddles leading away from it then became visible. I saw him lean down to get a closer look to confirm. “Outside,” he said firmly. I then put it together that the sprinkle I felt was pee coming off the end of her tail! Yup. My eyes had been open. I’m pretty sure it went in the corner of my right one, and on my lip. I took a deep breath.
After they got back inside I followed my husband, who was carrying Maple, upstairs to the bathtub. Neither of us said a word. We just knew we were on the same page. It was time. She needed a bath. I grabbed a towel.
We have a removable shower head, but we opted to just use a little yellow watering pitcher in the shape of a giraffe my kids use. My husband poured the water over her instead of spraying her. She seemed a little nervous, and was shaking a bit, but she didn’t run away. She tried to put a paw on the side of the tub at one point, but I helped keep her inside the tub as they finished. When I was about to hand over the towel I took this picture.
Maple’s first bath
If you missed any of my previous posts, they’re listed below.
Catch up here:
Puppy Go Bag: Preparing for a puppy after losing our family dog
Puppy First Days Home: Meet Maple!
Puppy Adventures: weeks 8-9
Puppy Adventures: weeks 9-10
Puppy Adventures: weeks 10-11
Puppy Adventures: weeks 11-12
There is not much else to report this week. Getting a puppy after losing a dog, a best friend of 12 years, is complicated. It’s layered in new love and excitement, but also a longing for a familiar love, something recognizable and steady. Life is not steady right now. The anchor has been pulled up. At times I do ask myself what we got ourselves into. My husband is reassuring me it’s only a temporary stage, being a puppy that is. But I’ve also expressed how things are different. He knows. I miss Savy, a lot. It’s hard not to. I still have one of her beds on the couch by my feet where she used to lay. I still have two of her other beds by my side of the bed on the floor. I sometimes lay by them and cry at the end of a long day. Her ashes now sit on my nightstand. I sometimes will set them right next to me on her bed. She used to be my anchor. When I do this I feel better, and it helps me.
With her gone, the boat has been rocked and is now being pulled in a different direction, sometimes more than one direction at the same time. I’m holding on and trying my best to allow the waves of grief to come. I know it won’t last forever at this intensity. But maybe I also don’t want it to stop. When I cry is when I feel her love.
This new adventure has only just begun.
When I started writing about Maple week by week, I didn’t know how long I would continue. I’m still not 100% sure. I’m not sure I’ll update as frequently going forward, but I’m hopeful I’ll have some stories to share. Somehow there’s always more to the story. I will keep it coming, when I can. Stay tuned.
Maple, 13 weeks old, fox red, female Labrador Retriever.
