Now I understand why parents post facebook statuses about their children's bowel movements...

There are so many things in life that we simply aren't taught in school.  For example:

• How to find a Primary Care Physician in a strange town
• How long you should wait to mow your lawn after it rains
• What the opposite sex is thinking

and my current favorite

• How to manage the first few days of having a new dog in your house. 

Dogs are supposed to be relaxing for us humans, right?  Our own personal therapists, only without the hourly rates and the annoying questions about our parental issues.  I've read that petting a dog reduces a person's blood pressure. 

All this may be true eventually, but it's certainly not the case in the first few days of dog ownership.  Good grief.  What an emotional rollercoaster of worry and joy.  Although for me, there wasn't much joy.  There was mostly worry.  Which, of course, rubbed off on the dog until I think we were both basket cases.  She wasn't eating, I wasn't sleeping.  We did really well on walks when we both had a job: me to project calm-assertive energy (thanks Cesar Milan) and she to follow my lead and practice calm-submissive energy.  But get us back home and it was fretting and following and fighting over going outside. 

This evening, though, we turned a corner.  She greeted me with wagging tail when I got home (and much as it hurt, I waited for her to sit and be calm before bestowing some love), and then we promptly went on a long walk, practiced the "sit" command, and came home for dinner.  For the first time in two days, she ate and slurped her water, and then we played for a bit.  Now she's sacked out on her pillows and I'm basking in the glow of being a successful pack leader, at least for tonight. 

Yes, she jumps on the couch when that's a no-no in my house.  Yes, she hasn't grasped "stay" yet.  But she ate dinner!  And I had to stop myself from posting that on my facebook page, because, really, who cares?  (I supposed you could say that about any of my facebook posts, but that's a little too large of an ego hit for me to tackle tonight.)

And best of all, we've found a name. 

Sadie, meet the world (or a few people in the world, anyway).  World, meet Sadie.  Tonight, she's holding the "Best Dog Ever" crown.  Sorry, dogs of the world.  You can have it back tomorrow.

As my mom said, "Sadie, get your butt over here" rolls off the tongue quite nicely.