Of Puppies, Sleep Deprivation, and Lack of Productivity

Here’s the bottom line. Since Cleo had her stroke, I haven’t written a word on my book manuscript. Not one.

First was dealing with her and dealing with grieving. Then came little Aurora. And she is a handful. Like most nine-week-old puppies, she’s a fountain of energy. She knows two speeds: full bore and crash and burn. There is no middle ground. She goes and goes and goes until she hits the wall, and then it’s sound asleep. The problem is that, like most puppies, she’s incredibly curious, wanting to investigate everything and see what it is. So, she’s all over the place all the time, either exploring or wrestling with Nero. That, in and of itself, is not that bad.

What’s bad is that the overwhelming majority of nine-week-old puppies are not housebroken, and neither is Aurora. We’ve got her on the road to housebreaking by crate training her and by taking her out every half an hour or so and then praising her when she pees outside, but the fact is that she has at least one accident per day in the house. One of us has to watch her virtually every minute in the hope of fending off accidents. This morning, while I was in the shower and Susan was getting ready for work, Aurora peed a big one on the rug in our bedroom because Susan was getting dressed and took her eye off her for a moment. It happens that quickly. So, when I’m at home, I’m usually chasing after her.

There’s also the sleep deprivation factor, which cannot be underestimated. The rule of dog care in our house is that we alternate nights/mornings. That way, the load is shared equally. Last night was my night. Aurora got me up to go outside at 2, 4:50, and 6. Of course, I had to go outside with her, dressed in shorts, t-shirt, and slippers on a windy night that got down into the low 20’s. Needless to say that by the time I finally got her to pee, I was one seriously cold guy. Then, it’s back upstairs, put her back in her crate (for which she will whine and cry for a while), and try to go back to sleep. The second time was that she was awake, was lonely and bored, and wanted attention. She didn’t even have to go when I took her outside.

The net result is that I am terribly sleep deprived today. And I don’t see it getting any better for another month or so, until she’s a little older and a little bigger. That, however, means that not much productive will get done on my various writing projects between now and then…..