She ain't heavy

We got a puppy about a week and a half ago.  We've named her Skylar and she's an 11 week old, 11 pound bundle.  She is laid back, has a wonderful disposition and is truly finding a home with us. When we first adopted her from the Howard County Animal Welfare Foundation, a no-kill shelter here in Maryland, she was sick with what we thought was kennel cough.  It turns out she had pneumonia and ended up having to spend a couple of nights in the hospital.  She's back with us now, feeling better and reminding us what it is like to have a puppy in the house.

After Alexa took the picture yesterday and I posted it on Facebook and someone commented that she has the same eyes as Jersey.  I didn't pick up on it at first but now that it was mentioned, Skylar does have the same steady gaze and knowing look that Jersey had at the same age.  As I think about it and watch Skylar, I am noticing more and more similarities. the most startling one is what I'm doing to get her housebroken.

In a previous blog back in February or March, I wrote about how I had been carrying Jersey up and down the stairs of the back deck.  Jersey was an 80 pound, heavy, muscle bound dog. When she started going lame and showing the signs of her illness, it was harder and harder for her to get outside to pee and poop. I made a commitment to her that I would carry her in and out for as long as she needed no matter how heavy she was.  She eventually came to realize that she needed the help and began to help me lift her from the ground.  She would lean into me, almost as if she was shifting her weight to make it easier to get into my arms and carry her.  I ended up having to get a wrist brace and forearm wrap to get some additional support for myself so I wouldn't blowout either my wrists or my arms because of overdoing it.  I carried her up and down, in and out countless times during her illness.  It was difficult to some degree but was done from a place of love and was never, ever a burden.  She never really felt heavy because I knew I was helping her the best way I could and that she appreciated it. That was a few months ago.

Now, I'm carrying Skylar in and out through the same door and up and down the same steps so she can pee and poop.  She hasn't quite figured out how to get down the stairs so she has to be carried and I carry her back up them sometimes.  She does know how to climb the stairs though and sometimes I let her. Mostly though she needs a lift. She still has the pneumonia, though it is going away, and shouldn't really be exerting herself or else she gets into a coughing fit.

What I am struck by is that there is some sort of similarity and a kind completion involved here.  I carry Skylar just as I carried Jersey. Skylar is light as a feather and I can carry her on my arm so I can support her chest, her long legs dangling.

Jersey was heavier but I carried her just the same.

It's bittersweet when I think about it; I'm doing the same thing but for different dogs.. A couple of months ago I started carrying our special girl who was at the end of her life.  Now, I'm carrying this helpless puppy who is just beginning to discover us and the world.