We made it, sort of

BJ returned from his five days out of town late Sunday evening. I was happy, very, very happy, to see he come home.

I love both of my dogs, and I wouldn't give either one of them up for anything, but this past week was a learning experience for me and Zoe. BJ does the bulk of Zoe's care taking. I've spent most of her six months with us just playing, petting, and coddling her. It's been nice. But while BJ was gone, I actually had to take care of this very high maintenance dog. I am exhausted.

During the course of the five days without BJ, Zoe decided that she would no longer ever step foot in her kennel, which left me in a pickle when it was time to go to work. She was untrustworthy in the yard, untrustworthy in the house, and generally left me nervous. She ate an entire stick of butter, wrapper and all, and developed a bladder infection that caused her to urinated every 2 to 5 minutes. This also led to trips outside in the middle of the night and severe sleep deprivation. Oh, and she tore up one of her toys leaving copious amounts of stuffing all over me house. It made the vacuum groan, literally.

But somewhere along the way, something strange happened: We bonded. Between the bouts of frustration and anger, I realized how cute her stubborn and idiotic personality is, even if it is totally different from Sienna or Gus. And she slowly stopped causing quite so much mischief and started following me everywhere and laying on my feet whenever I was still. She is bony and heavy, but it was still kind of cute. After six months of BJ being the only thing standing between Zoe and utter chaos, I finally joined the barrier wall. I'm starting to think she is going to end up a good dog after all.

As for Gus, he set on the sidelines watching the shenanigans. I think he felt sorry for me. When she finally did calm down, he joined her on my feet. I don't know how they both fit, but they do.