Peaches the Puppy

Being the epitome of impatience, I was really hoping that the 2nd time was going to be the charm.

In the midst of all the college class stress in February, I thought it would be a good time to try another dog - a puppy this time. My husband thought I was nuts. If you had seen my stress level, you would be agreeing with him. But please hear me out...

Remember Skippy, the aggressive, possessive Chihuahua we gave back to it's foster parent in October? The dog with the incessantly loud bark that only liked three of us? And...the subject of Michael's dreams as well several heart wrenching essays he wrote in school? He was still sleeping with her picture and her collar under his pillow. Even Jacob, who was terrified of the little ball of fire, kept asking when we were were going to get a dog again. We really wanted to try another dog sooner, rather than later. But there were a couple of factors that made the timing of getting a dog somewhat out of our control.

We thought we would have the best chance of success this time with a puppy. There are resources stretching as high and wide as the Cascade Mountains for raising and training a puppy. Books from Amazon.com, books at our little compound library, books in the elementary school library, videos on YouTube, internet articles, etc. There is very little information, outside of the Cesar Milan Dog Whisperer DVDs, to assist inexperienced dog owners with integrating an adult dog with possible issues into their home. We don't even have access to dog obedience classes here. So, a puppy it was going to be.

Secondly, it couldn't just be any puppy. We absolutely needed something off the hypoallergenic list because of Jake's allergies. And not just any breed on the list - it needed to be small. The smaller the dog, the less dander. In addition to being hypo and small, the breed temperament was a HUGE consideration, as we wanted a friendly, family dog this time. All these requirements narrowed the options down quite a bit.

Getting a dog in Khobar at a pet store was nearly impossible for us. Muslims don't like dogs, so dogs aren't in high demand around the Middle East. We found a couple pet stores in town that sometimes had dogs, but they couldn't tell us exactly what kind of dog it was. The standard answer, no matter what it looked like, was "terrier."

If we got a puppy from a breeder in the US, then we'd know exactly what it was. That idea was pretty quickly squashed - Saudi Arabia limits the kind of dog being imported to guard dogs only and has started cracking down on people trying to skirt that issue by having a vet certify their Yorkshire terrier as a guard dog. In fact, we know a family here that has 2 pure bred puppies still being boarded by a breeder in the US four months after purchasing them because they haven't been able to get them into the country here. And quite honestly if all that wasn't a deterrent, the price would have been!

Well then, how about getting a puppy from someone on camp? Possibly, but not the best odds. There is an Aramco compound rule that no one is allow to breed dogs here. I have no idea what the consequence is - I doubt it's a one way ticket back to the US - but it's severe enough that IF anyone has puppies, it's not advertised. If you have gotten a puppy from someone on camp, you heard about it by word of mouth only.

So. What to do? We started spreading the word anyway, keeping our fingers crossed for a miracle. Then one day in February a friend of ours told us about a Havanese puppy they smuggled in over the causeway from Bahrain, who happened to have a sister still waiting for a home. Was Havanese on the hypo list? Yep. Was Havanese a small, friendly, family dog? Absolutely. Was a dog going to be easy to get into Saudi by car? Not at all. But the worst that would happen would be that they'd make us take it back before letting us across the border back home.

Keep in mind that I'm going crazy from stress at this very moment from all the studying. I was still trying to hit a stride, find some routine and keep my life in balance - and not doing a very good job at any of it. Adding an untrained, not housebroken, 4 month old puppy to the mix sounds like the straw that would break the crazy lady's back, right? Come on people...when have you ever known me to back down from challenge? In fact, I thought it was the perfect time to get a puppy - while I'm establishing a routine, not in a year when I've already settled into a one. And besides, considering all the factors, when would another puppy that met all our criteria come available again?

We brought the puppy home the following night. She was quiet as a church mouse in the little crate we hid between the boys, who were pretending to sleep. The customs official looked in the window but said nothing and let us through. We had a dog again!!

Peaches is working out great. We've taught her to ring a bell that hangs by the sliding glass door when she wants to go out (we haven't decided on a dog door or not). And while we rejoice that she is clever enough to be easily trained to ring the bell, we groan about opening it for her non-stop on the days she just wants to go out and play every 20 minutes (just who is training who, I ask?). Jake is having absolutely no health issues at all - she licks him all the time and he does fine. She LOVES when people come over, especially kids that play with her.

Oh - I have to cut this short. The bell just rang - someone needs to go out...