Prepping for ‘A Very Puppy Christmas’
It’s time to bolt down the furniture and roll out the tarps.
Christmas is coming and so are the loved ones. I am all jumpy with glee that all my kids will be here under my roof at the same time. Because my daughter and her husband live at 1 o’clock from here (near the Canada border) and my son and his fiancee live at 8 o’clock (Kentucky) I don’t see them nearly often enough. But they’re coming.
And bringing my grand-dogs. I’ve already met and have come to love Gabby the English bulldog. Gabby is built large and with low ground clearance and, being a puppy, she is playful. New to the family is Eland, an abandoned Great Pyrenees-or-something mix that the Kentucky kids saved and have adopted. I’ve not met him yet, but Eland is Dutch for elk, so I’m guessing he is a large, gangly fellow (though probably unhorned).
As we all began to make the holiday plans, my son called to tell me about Eland.
“He’s playful and very sweet,” he said. “And we won’t leave him with you unless we have to.” He had a reassuring tone, but I could tell he’s a bit concerned. A puppy can be a real pill; a large puppy might be a tough pill to swallow.
“Don’t worry about it,” I said. “We’ll figure it out.”
And so began all the conjuring and planning and thinking about what it will be like having the two dogs here at the same time for a few days. The first time Gabby the English bulldog was here, she tried to get my grumpy, elderly Smoothie to play, and he wasn’t having it. After trying all sorts of deflection and separation maneuvers, I decided to take Smoothie to stay with my parents.
Now, I was planning for two playful puppies. And that opened another box of worry.
Is Eland neutered? Nope. Is Gabby? Nope. Neither is quite old enough yet. And so what we’re likely to have here is a rugby scrum of hormonal longing and energy. And we don’t want any Great bull-delk puppies come Easter.
Yes, there will be crates and leashes and such. My house is big enough for each family to have their own room with space for the dog. I can always go into my bedroom and bolt the door if I need a break. The kids will tend to walking and feeding.
That is, until that one day between the holidays, when they all depart for a family dinner at a home that does not allow dogs. That is the night I will be here at Elk ranch, wrangling the lovesick pre-teenagers. To prepare for what is likely to be a physically strenuous few hours, I have added extra glute and bicep reps to my strength-training workouts. These grand-dogs are not gonna walk themselves.
I will be happy to take a shift or two of dog watching. It’s all part of being a parent. I hope that someday my kids will arrive with babies, and that they don’t have to drive far to get here. Until that happy day, I’ll welcome them from far away, dogs and all.
I’d thought about waiting to write about the visiting dogs until after they’ve come and gone. And I still might write a recap. But I suspect this movie called “A Very Puppy Christmas” is funnier and more challenging in my imagination than what it will turn out to be in real life. My kids are nice people.
I know the dogs will be nice people, too.