Meet Baby Milo

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a sucker for animals, especially puppies. I like to think of my love for animals as a positive thing; it means I have a heart. I don't trust anybody who doesn't love puppies. What kind of sicko doesn't look at puppies and think they're adorable? But I'm getting off track. I'm trying to say that it was this love of adorable puppies that caught me off guard last Saturday when my sister and I ran to WalMart* to pick up a few quick items.

Walking up to the door I saw a mother and her son standing there with a tiny chihuahua puppy at their feet. "Look at the baby!" I squealed at my sister! "It's a baby!" I ran up and started scratching the puppy's tiny ears. "Are you selling him?" I asked. They informed me that they were, indeed, selling him, so I picked him up. It couldn't hurt to just snuggle him a bit, right? He licked my face in excitement, then settled in for a snuggle. I'm always curious to know how much people are asking for their puppies, so I asked. "$100.00," they replied.

A hundred bucks?! Are you kidding me? Your average chihuahua puppy runs around $400-$600. The price caught me off guard. I don't have a problem walking away from a $400 puppy when I'm not in the market, but $100 is something to think about. I snuggled the puppy a few seconds longer, then looked at my sister, a wide grin slowly spreading across my face. "I'm getting him," I announced. "You're crazy," she declared, but obviously excited I was getting the puppy.

It took a good part of the day, but I finally decided to name the new baby Milo. There were several serious contenders, but they didn't fit as well with the other dog names, Daphne and Roxy. Milo. It'll work. The second my mom saw me walking up with the puppy she asked, "How much did you pay for it?"

"A hundred bucks."

"I will give you one hundred dollars for it," she said matter-of-factly.

My sister had made me the same offer just a few minutes earlier. I politely refused both offers. Milo was mine.

So it's been a week and a half since Milo joined our furry, feathery, and scaly family. For the most part it's a blast. He's so cute and snuggly and likes to take naps on my chest while we lounge on the couch. He also loves to play with the bigger dogs and has a hilarious little bark. The stuff that's not cool is that puppies are a lot of work (I should know, Milo is the third puppy I've raised). I'm going to go ahead and make the completely uninformed declaration that puppies are harder to deal with than a newborn baby (but not older babies that can move around). I have to get up to take Milo out in the middle of the night--sometimes twice. He also requires constant vigilance lest I turn my head for one minute and turn around to find him chewing on an electrical cord (one of his favorite naughtinesses) or peeing on my carpet. To combat the latter, I adhere to a strict potty training regime that involves taking Milo out after he eats, drinks, sleeps, or plays, and every twenty minutes in between. He has already proven to be easier to potty train than Daphne or Roxy because he goes to the bathroom the second you take him outside--no waiting around begging, "Go potty! Go potty!" With both Daphne and Roxy I'd stand outside for twenty minutes at a time and have to walk around backward to keep them from sitting on my feet because the grass was too cold for their tiny feet. Ah, the joys of children!

*Lest you think I'm in the habit of buying puppies in front of the WalMart on a whim, you should know this is the first time I've ever bought a dog in this manner, and afterward I was like, "Holy crap, I can't believe I just bought a puppy from strangers at the WalMart." Every other time I've bought a pet I've given it serious thought and reflection before heading out to buy a new animal. I also firmly believe that when you take in an animal, you have a responsibility to keep that animal and provide the best care you can until either you or it die. If you get a pet with the idea that you can always get rid of it if you decide you don't want it anymore, then you shouldn't be getting one in the first place. There, I'll climb off my soapbox now.