I figured since I did the story of way I got Kita, that I would also do the day she broke me. You may be confused, but I think everyone has one of those, “Oh man, what was I thinking?” moments. Especially with a pet.
So I admit, me ending up with my Husky, Kita, all happened very quickly. Before I knew it, I was sitting on the foot of my bed, and another living, breathing creature was in my midst. Now, I had my cat Duchess, so I knew I could keep something alive. But this was a dog, they need way more care. They need to go out, they need walked, they eat more, etc. Plus, I was picking a more challenging dog, they shed like crazy and need far more exercise and monitoring. Can never be off leash, and can be stubborn.
I was taking on a lot of responsibility with her. Lucky for me, I did appear to get a pretty smart one. A trend that continued to dominate the field as she grew older. She’s very vocal about what she wants, and has her, and my routine down to a science. As I’m writing this she’s whining at me because I came home from work, and haven’t put her outside yet. Mainly because my fiancé stayed home today, and she’s been out. But since she saw me come home, she wants to go out. Very obnoxious.
Anyway, I don’t remember Kita’s exact age when this happened, but it was probably in the first couple months of having her. I was determined to have as few accidents as possible with Kita. In fact, the first day I had her, not a single mess in the house. I was feeling pretty confident. I would come home every break at work to let her out, then rush back. So I was very dedicated. Same with at night, every few hours an alarm would go off and I’d put her out. So I was pretty much going all out for success.
Kita is the only husky I’ve ever seen that just doesn’t howl. In fact, before Raven came around, she hardly ever made a peep, minus arguing with me. So she didn’t know how to tell me when she had to go outside. So I decided to teach her to ring a bell. She did well with it, but this story is before that bell habit ever arrived.
One night, I was beyond exhausted. I’d been working several 12 hour days a week, and of course I was running around on my breaks. I was having issues sleeping, because I had to keep getting up to put the dog out. Though I do believe that at this point it was every 4 hours, so generally once a night. This night though, I woke up before the alarm, because Kita had decided she wanted to play. She grabbed a toy and shook it about. The squeaker was terribly loud when I was trying to sleep. I could have gotten up, and taken the toy away, but I was so tired.
Eventually the noise won and I sat on my bed and just watched her bolt from one end of the room, to the next. I was half dazed, but continued to wonder how she could keep going. I walked her, and played fetch, she should be more tired than she was. I just thought to myself, “Oh god, what have I done?” I was defeated.
Kita did eventually calm down, but at that point I was already awake. She went to curl back up on the blanket next to me and gave me a look. She plopped over and yawned. Kita is not one for cuddling, she likes her space. I looked at her and she looked content. Slowly I fell back asleep. I woke up to my alarm maybe an hour later, and she just gave me a look. I turned it off and went back to bed. I awoke for work feeling pretty well rested, and Kita didn’t have any accidents. I called it a win. From that night forward I decided not to put her out every 4 hours. But depending on when she went last, and how much she drank, I could make it through the night.
I was finally able to not want to give in to the madness, thanks to some nights of rest.
EK Creates 