A new Buddy

Remember last week when I said that M and I did something that we've been wanting to do for a while, but had been putting off until we had children?

Meet Buddy!

 

Ever since we moved out of our teeny tiny downtown condo into a proper house with a backyard, we've talked about getting a dog.  But in the innocence of our pre-infertility days, we thought it best to wait until after we had kids.  Lots of people kept telling us how their poor dogs got neglected when they had newborns, and we didn't want to do that.  So we waited.

But in my spirit of no longer putting our lives on hold for infertility, after our failed FET we threw our energy into scouring the internet to find ourselves the perfect fur baby.  Our criteria were pretty easy.  We wanted a dog that was a little bit older and not a huge bundle of energy, since we're both gone all day for work.  We also preferred to find a dog from a shelter or rescue, since we didn't really care about having a purebred dog or any specific breed.  After a few false starts, last Sunday we went to his foster home to meet Buddy.  And on Wednesday, we brought him home!

Buddy was originally picked up as a stray in Ohio.  Apparently, lots of beagles end up in shelters there because they're used for the hunting season and then left behind when the hunters go home.  Around July, Buddy found his way into a shelter in Ohio where he was slated to be euthanized.  But the shelter kept putting it off, since Buddy is so gentle and happy they kept thinking he would definitely get adopted.  With no luck by December, they got in touch with their local humane society that has relationships with a number of rescue organizations in Canada.  Buddy made his way up to a foster home in Toronto and that's how he came to us.

We were both initially a little hesitant to adopt a beagle, since they can suffer from separation anxiety when left alone, which leads to barking and howling.  Our house is a semi-detached, so we were worried that any noise would disturb the lovely old gentleman who shares a wall with us.  But his foster mom assured us that he's the quietest beagle she'd ever encountered, and so far noise hasn't been an issue.  He's been quiet during the day and very well-mannered in the house.  We were also a little worried that as a hunting breed, Buddy might look at our cockatiel Leon as lunch instead of a little brother.  Again, we needn't have stressed about it.  While Buddy was initially quite curious, once he sniffed a few times (and Leon made a lunge and hiss to show Buddy who was boss), all has been well.  We really lucked out with this guy, he's so chill and friendly.

It's definitely been a bit of an adjustment for us, getting used to letting him out when he needs to go and walking him regularly.  Also, no more spur-of-the-moment after-work drinks now that we have a doggie to get home to!  While M's family has always had dogs, I've been a bit more of a cat person and enjoyed the fact that they're so low maintenance.  But we can tell already that having Buddy is totally going to be worth the change in routine.  When you call his name he gets so happy, he runs over to you and his tail wags to hard that his entire body moves back and forth.

This pic doesn't do it justice, but you can see his wagging tail is a total blur!

So that's the answer to the big question of what we did last weekend!  We became dog parents.  Sorry to disappoint if anyone thought it was going to be more exciting or x-rated.  You people are filthy.