He’s Enough: Our Pandemic Puppy

By Natalie Criscione 

We have a pandemic puppy.

Before we got him, I explored puppy podcasts, hired a trainer (covid-virtual, of course), and considered myself well prepared for the new family member. I had raised two puppies before, but this time I was going to do it right or, at least, better. We were going to have the best puppy ever (similar to the title of the book I was reading: “Training the Best Dog Ever”). He was going to be a therapy dog by the end of his first year. 

How little we knew!

Our new puppy was scarcely 9 weeks old when the attacks began—not puppy nips, but angry, aggressive attacks. He bit hard, did not let go, drew blood, and voiced a snarl that seemed more fitting of a monstrous beast than a slight, three pound, floppy-eared fuzzball. This was not in the books. This was not on the podcasts. This was even outside the trainer’s repertoire.  

“This puppy is not like your other dogs,” said the veterinarian.  

“You need to hire a trainer who deals with aggression issues,” said the trainer.

“Why don’t you just get rid of him?” a well-meaning friend asked.  

Get rid of him? Who would take him? He was the antithesis of what a puppy should be. Yet during quiet moments, he showed off newly learned skills like “sit”, “stay”, and “roll over”; he tilted his head to gaze up at us when we whispered his name. His eyes betrayed depths of some wise cosmic past, and we fell in love with him. “Please be patient with me,” he seemed to say. 

One podcaster’s often repeated phrase echoed in my mind: “You don’t get the dog you want, you get the dog you need.” 

Ok. We need him…even though we have no idea why. We will figure this out. We will change our goals. Perhaps he won’t be a therapy dog until he’s 7; or, perhaps never. Maybe, just maybe, we will learn something about ourselves and each other and dogs as we struggle through.*

And maybe that will be enough.

*Today, at the age of 4 1/2, our puppy has become a sweet dog who continues to teach us lessons about life, love, and patience. He is not a therapy dog.

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