Day 11- Rug Urination

In the Winter of 2011 my dad accepted a job offer in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Our family was mixed with emotions at this opportunity, but were left with no real choice other than being excited for him. We soon found ourselves packing up miscellaneous items around the house that we felt would make a "homey" apartment, we were essentially nesting our current house to make a new apartment for my dad. It was an incredibly odd feeling. After a trip up to Minneapolis with my brother and Hannah G, they selected an apartment, and things were feeling awfully official by this point. 

I had just accepted a job at Clark Elementary as an aide to the teachers, but soon realized I would need to accompany my mom and dad to Minnesota to get my dad all settled in. I requested my first personal day off of work, and met my mom and dad at my mom's school. I drove up and saw a U-Haul. Wow, this is actually happening. My dad is actually moving to Minnesota to work, he is actually moving into an apartment and living without us. Ugh-Ouch.

The three of us set off on an adventure. Minneapolis is approximately 9 hours away from St. Louis. I'm not sure if you are familiar with the weather in Iowa or Minnesota during the winter months, but I definitely wasn't. I mean I know that there was snow on the ground and that it was cold, but I had no idea that we were making a trip to the freaking North Pole! As we are driving up toward Minnesota, I notice the thermometer in our car getting colder and colder. I also notice snow, not just a nice peaceful snow, but a snow that is on a mission. The flakes were huge! My mom and I, of course start questioning my dad. Saying things like, "Are you sure we shouldn't stop and spend the night somewhere?" "Are you sure we are safe pulling the U-Haul behind us in this weather?" Mind you, our questions were formulated very carefully because we didn't want to add any more stress to dad than needed. After a very sketchy trip, we finally made it! Holy Winter Wonderland!!! Snow banks everywhere! It actually was quite pretty, minus the chilling temperatures! We spent the night in a hotel, woke up the next morning to sign all of the apartment paperwork and began the time consuming task of moving every piece of furniture into the apartment. Thank God we were on the first floor! Can you imagine unloading a U-Haul and truck full of furniture in bone chilling temperatures, with at least 5 inches of snow on the ground? It was an experience to say the least. 

Mom and I flew back to St. Louis, and started the journey of the two of us at the house. It was hard. I can't imagine how hard it was for my mom, but an outsider would have never known if she was struggling, because she kept a poker face most of the time. Yes, she would say she missed him, but nothing dramatic. Winter faded into Spring and mom and I were coming near  our spring breaks. Mom was going up to Minneapolis, and I was going to Los Angeles. Our spring breaks were not during the same week, so while mom was gone, I was at home. Thank goodness Jon was here to keep me company because it got lonely! It was just me, Jon, Bandit, and Deuce. 
One day I was on the phone with mom, and she was talking about me going to L.A. I told her I was worried about her because the house can be SO lonely when you are by yourself!
 I then mentioned that a puppy would keep her preoccupied! She laughed, and said she had been thinking about the same thing and had already contacted the breeder whom we had gotten Deuce. I. WAS. ECSTATIC.  My mom explained to me that she had told the breeder she didn't want to spend a ton of money, and what kind of breed she was looking for. The breeder e-mailed her back with several pictures of dogs that she would give to my mom for free!!! My mom sent all of the pictures to me, and highlighted the two dogs she would consider. 
I then, called the breeder and set up a meeting spot to meet with these two dogs. The meeting spot was at Lambert International Airport. I literally picked mom up from her flight from MN, and we waited to meet the breeder. FINALLY they arrived! The man placed a LARGE kennel on the parking lot, and said he had to go inside to put a puppy on a flight to Detroit, but that we should open the kennel and play with the dogs. So, we did. We looked in the kennel and there were the two cutest little dogs all the way in the corner huddled together. We opened the kennel, and out came the first one! She was covered in vomit, and feces but was still so damn cute! The second one was pretty timid and shy. Mom had to pull him out. You couldn't see his eyes, because his hair was all over the front of his face and he reeked of vomit. My mom and I played with both dogs, and my mom said she was going to take the boy dog. By this point I was so in love with the little girl dog and I was terrified that if I didn't take her, she was going to go back into this awful smelly kennel! My mom looks at me, and says, "No way Hannah!" How the hell does she know what I want to do here? We both look at the little girl dog, and start thinking if this actually can work. Can we get two puppies? Can we take care of two puppies? What would Dad do? I believe this thought crosses our mind at the same time, and she gets her phone out and calls dad. She talks to him about the boy dog, and dad sounds excited, she then explains the scenario with the girl dog...then the phone comes my way. Uh-Oh. "Hannah, you cannot get a dog! You are 23 years old and do not need the responsibility." Blah Blah Blah I explain to him that I CAN handle the responsibility, and in fact I'm thinking BRING IT ON! My mom hangs up with my dad, and I call Jon...I explain the situation and he sounds timid, and scared, but he doesn't say no! 

Next thing we know, we have two puppies by the names of Burnie and Junie. Yes, I left for L.A. that next week and my mom was left to fend for herself with FOUR dogs, two of which being puppies. Yes, I have the world's best mom. Be jealous. 


Junie has been an amazing addition to my life and I am so happy I made that decision that day. There have been many ups and downs and recently our struggle has still been getting her to stop peeing in the house! We have had her for a year now, and when we got her she was 5 months old. The reason this topic is fresh on my mind is because today, Jon looks over and there's Junie peeing on a rug practically staring at us saying, "Yeah what do you want?" AHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why is she doing this?!?!?! We have tried bell training her, and the only time she uses it really is when Burnie is outside and she wants to play with him. So does this mean she understands the concept? I've looked a little online for some help, but there is a wealth of information out there and it seems very intimidating. Any suggestions from anyone out there would be greatly appreciated!?! I will say that her "piss" problem has gotten a TON better, but it still is not up to where I want her to be which would be NO peeing in the house EVER!
Ugh-Thanks for this wonderful vent session.
Even though I'm beyond frustrated with this darn dog, I still managed to find some adorable pictures of her. I'm not sure you will find her adorable because my mom said to me today as I was ooohing and ahhing over Junie and her cute face, "Junie, you have only a face your mom would love." RUDE MOM! 

Jon and Junie-she adores him, it makes me jealous

UGH as mad at her as I am right now, how can I not love that little face?!

Her very first road trip! Look at her little baby face-GIGI