A few weeks ago, Janey and I were out for our usual walk and met a puppy named Darla in a neighbor’s yard.  Janey is a real dog’s dog, and she especially likes puppies (to be fair, who doesn’t?). But this time seemed special, even for her. They romped and played awhile. But then, every time we passed that neighbor’s house – which was nearly every day – Janey would whine and tug at the leash and try to pull me toward the house. About a week later, the neighbor told me that unfortunately she’d had to return the puppy to its original owner – it wasn’t working out with her other pets. We were sad. Janey kept whining every time we walked by.

And then, a few days ago, the neighbor mentioned that Darla needed a new home and put me in touch with the original owner. Darla had been part of an accidental litter, and while the original not-breeder would have loved to have kept her, puppies are expensive and times are tough right now.

You can probably guess where this is going. I got my dog a puppy.

In honor of her new start in her forever home, and also because I love Taylor Swift, Darla has been rechristened Karma. I got to meet her mother, who was an extremely squat, muscular, affable bulldog mix; the father was the dog next door. I didn’t see him, but Karma seems to have inherited long legs and a disproportionately long, whippy tail from him. She’s mostly white, with some black spots strategically placed for maximum cuteness. Her face is a boxy square; she seems to be some sort of bulldog-terrier-boxer mix (genetic test TBD). Her paws indicate that she’ll be a big girl; she’s 5 months old and already almost Janey’s size.

My family has only ever adopted adult dogs. We say it’s because older dogs have a harder time getting adopted from shelters – which is true! – but mostly it’s because puppies are a huge pain in the petunia. Karma’s not even a little bit house-trained, and she’s quick and sly to boot. A sneaky piddler. You can’t turn your back on her for more than 10 seconds. I am not joking about that timeframe. It’s not ideal in a house that’s 85% carpeted. She’s in a teething stage and requires constant swapping for items that are not OK to chew (shoes, doorways, chairs, toilet brush) with items that are (specifically purchased dog toys, random sticks). Just yesterday, she peed in the house three times, shredded all the toilet paper in the bathroom and covered herself in mud, necessitating a bath that nobody enjoyed.

I suspect the reason puppies evolved to be so hecking cute is so we’d keep taking care of them. And Karma is peak puppy cuteness. Floppy ears, floppy body (she has trouble keeping herself upright when she’s excited), friendly and happy with everyone. Every stranger is just a friend she hasn’t met yet, as opposed to Janey, who requires multiple levels of security clearance and a full background check before she’ll let you feed her a biscuit. Juno, for her part, doesn’t seem to give a crap either way. Juno, being a 12-year-old cat, hasn’t given a crap about anything since roughly 2018. She sets a firm boundary if Karma gets too close or too jumpy, but other than that, has accepted the new resident of her realm with aristocratic detachment.

But. Janey is as happy as I’ve ever seen her. They romp around the yard, running and wrasslin’. I’ve never seen Janey do this rough-and-tumble sort of play before – my mom’s shih tzus don’t really lend themselves to that – and in addition to helping expend her energy, it’s also very cute.

Janey has obviously had puppies before (you can tell from her body), and she’s a great mom. She’s protective and watchful, but not aggressively so. So far, Karma’s been here less than a week, and Janey’s already taught her how to drink out of puddles, to dig holes in the soft parts of the yard and to not eat out of Janey’s bowl. I’m hoping that the next thing Janey teaches her is that the bathroom is outside. Karma’s even made Janey seem more comfortable when strangers approach. So even though my dog food bill is going to triple, and I’m probably going to have to rent a carpet cleaner, I don’t regret expanding my family.

Victoria Hugo-Vidal is a Maine millennial. She can be contacted at:
themainemillennial@gmail.com
Twitter: @mainemillennial

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