When we moved to Hawaii we could only bring one of our dogs. We had to leave Zoey, our chihuahua/chinese crested mix in Virginia with my parents. She wasn't up to date on her vaccinations in time and she would have had to stay in Quarantine in Hawaii for 4 months. I couldn't stand the thought of our 7lb dog being left alone like that so we had to leave her behind. We brought Riley, our Jack Russell/Rat Terrier mix with us. Riley definitely went through a little bit of doggy depression in Hawaii. She has always been around another dog and definitely lost her playful personality being by herself. About a week before Dennis deployed, Dennis and I talked about getting another dog to keep Riley company. We went to the humane society, looked in the classifieds and looked on Craigslist. We came across an ad for a 5 month old Jack Russell/Chihuahua mix. Her owners couldn't take care of her because they weren't home enough and were willing to give her to us for free because they knew we'd give her a good home. We drove out that day and picked her up.
Little did we know... you get what you pay for.
This is Roxy.
Little did we know... you get what you pay for.
This is Roxy.
Roxy hates EVERYONE. I take that back, she hates everyone but Dennis and I. We can't take her outside without her flipping out at anyone who happens to walk by. No one can come into our house without her spazzing uncontrollably. Since Dennis was only with her for a few days before he deployed, I was convinced that she would not remember him and hate him too. Wrong. The second he walked in the door, the psychotic satan dog that I had known for 6 months transformed into a lovable little puppy that wouldn't leave him alone.
Roxy makes me crazy.
She is a pitbull in a 9lb body. She bullies Riley, chews holes our sheets, and at one point during Dennis' deployment she even dug a hole in our memory foam mattress. But...she loves us unconditionally and that is why she has lasted in this house as long as she has.
Fast forward to now.
Our dogs are incredibly spoiled. Because they are so small we have allowed them to sleep in the bed with us (a habit that we will be breaking before Charlie's arrival.) On Friday night at 4am, I was woken up by the sound of a dog puking. I turned on the lights and sure enough, Roxy had puked EVERYWHERE. After getting up, throwing all of the bedding in the washing machine, putting the dogs in their crates and putting clean bedding back on the bed, neither Dennis or I could fall back asleep because we had to be up at 6am for an MRI appointment anyway. When we got home from the appointment, we kept the dogs in their crates and went upstairs to take a nap to make up for the lack of sleep we'd had that night. Roxy had a different idea. She proceeded to bark, and whine and make as much noise as possible in order to keep me from falling asleep. After about an hour I went downstairs and gave up on the idea of a nap. I figured I'd just go to bed early that night. Once again Roxy had a different plan. At some point in the morning she developed hives. Her entire body was covered in lumps and she was itching uncontrollably. I couldn't stand the thought of locking her in the crate that night when she was already miserable so I told Dennis that I would just sleep downstairs with her. She didn't sleep AT ALL... from 12 am - 5 am she was up, down, itching, scratching, turning around in circles, jumping up on the couch, jumping down off the couch...making me CRAZY. It reminded me of an episode of House or some other medical drama where they were treating a homeless, schizophrenic, crackhead who was convinced that they had bugs under their skin and was going INSANE. By 5am, I had slept a total of 6 hours in a 48 hour time period. I told Dennis it was his turn and I went upstairs to bed and he came downstairs with Roxy. I was exhausted...I understand that sleep deprivation will be a big part of our lives when we have a newborn but I didn't sign up for it while being pregnant!
Apparently Charlie wasn't a fan of the lack of sleep either because at 6am this morning while I was laying in bed, I had my hand on my belly and he kicked it. Hard. I'd been feeling him move on the inside for a couple of weeks now but this was the first time I'd actually felt him on the outside. I can honestly say that it's one of the creepiest, most amazing things I've ever felt. Every time I put any pressure on where he was, he kicked again. I feel asleep for a few hours and woke up to Dennis telling me it was his turn to sleep. (Is this a foreshadowing of what the first few weeks of Charlie's life will be like?!?!?) I went and bought some benadryl for Roxy and within a couple hours she was feeling much better and the crazy itching had stopped... but for awhile there I couldn't help but think just how peaceful our house would be without the devil dog. She better realize just how lucky she is! A few hours later when Dennis woke up, he was able to feel Charlie kick for the first time too. We may have had a rough 24 hours, but Charlie's little feet made it all worthwhile.
(oh- and incase you are wondering why I have a dog in a baby sling in the picture, I posted....Roxy is TERRIFIED of loud noises so of course the fireworks on New Years Eve were a complete nightmare. She wouldn't come out from behind the couch and I felt so bad for her that I made an impromptu sling and that's where she stayed most of the night.
Like I said, our dogs are spoiled.)
