Stop and Smell the Bacon

Raising a Puppy in a Pandemic World

Upon our decision to get a puppy, I vowed to myself (in a loud, lecturing voice heard only inside my own head) to NOT to make all of my blog posts about the dog. There’s more to our small town life and these serious times than having a dog … except at the moment, our whole life IS about the dog.

“You know, this is going to be like having a child in the house again … we have to get up in the night with her … discipline her … deal with a house that smells like a barn … worse than a barn,” I tried one more plea with My Guy. “And we’re older … and grumpier when we don’t get sleep.”

He’s wanted a dog so badly though. Then of course, there’s the fact that Tillie is just so darn cute.

My reluctance let up inch by inch and before I knew it, I was online, signing us up for Chewy.com (this is not an affiliate link although I should look into that) and ordered colossal quantities of puppy treats, cat calming sprays, and jugs of odor combatting materials.

I guess this means I’m in.

New vocabulary and staples in our home for 2020: social distancing, flatten the curve, Zoom calls, Rona, face masks, hand sanitizer … and apparently … toilet paper.

One of the holdouts that presented the biggest hurdle for me is all the dog smells. It’s enough to battle the smells of the litter box (there’s probably nothing nastier), but one of my least favorite places (smell wise) is a pet store. Dog smells … dog food smells … ugh. The worst of it all is a wet dog smells. Double ugh!

Magically, since Tillie joined our ranks the house has not smelled as “doggy” as I thought it would … although one day I went to work smelling like a wet dog since I had to “coax” her inside during a rainstorm and I was in a hurry to get to work. We have our “favorite” puppy boo boo cleaners (all natural).

I’ve begun to notice that everything around me started to smell pretty good. Not just our house with it’s citrus-y pet products, but work … the coffee shop … the grocery store. The world just smelled good!

I stopped to consider this yesterday. Good smells make me happy … what was it that I was smelling so much?!

Bacon.

Everywhere I went in the outside world this week, people seemed to be eating bacon. I smelled it everywhere. And it made me happy. Who needs to stop and smell the roses when you can stop and smell the bacon!

But … my reason caught up with my “smeller” … this isn’t making sense. There’s no reason … and no way … that so many people could be eating bacon in so many environments.

And then …

I … very sheepishly … figured it out.

My face masks.

The environment didn’t smell like bacon … my facemarks do.

Because …

I put them in my pockets …

with …

bacon flavored dog treats!

What a ninny.

New vocabulary and staples in our house for 2021: Aha, leave it, Good girl, Yes!, Ouch!, leave it (yes … I know “leave it” has been listed 2x), carpet stain/odor remover, dog toys, and bacon flavored treats.

So … that is how puppy training in a pandemic world is going. My pockets have been taken over with all the necessities of survival … face masks, bacon-flavored dog treats, and poop bags. My pockets are prepared … my brain … not so much.

To deflect from my silly conclusion , here’s a quick update on how the other cat is. (I gave a Sophie update in a recent post.)

Simba has been the pretty much ridiculous about the new roommate. To make his feeling fully known, he hissed at the dog, glared at me, and huffed upstairs where he stays during the days … sneaking down at night when the thing is in her crate. To be fully clear that he thinks life is upside down in our home, he moved into the bathtub one evening. His look says it all, “Really. This has gone on long enough, don’t you think?”

A bit dramatic … especially given that Tillie ignores him most of the time and hasn’t given chase once. Not yet, anyway. Also, Tillie is … for a quick moment … smaller than Simba.

And that … for now … wraps up my non-puppy post. 😁 Hope you are enjoying the week and can stop and smell the bacon (or whatever makes you happiest) along the way!

Thank you for reading “Small Stuff”.  This is the second of two blogs sites that I write.  You can find more on my thought&faith blog at rashellbud.wordpress.com. Wishing you a beautiful day full of the Small Stuff that transforms life into BIG STUFF.

A note to my “silent” readers … thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to read my work. I’ve learned that many of you are shy about commenting or hitting the like button, but I want you to know that I appreciate your visits and invite you into the conversations whenever you are ready.

Wishing you peace in all things … Shelly