It’s been a while since we’ve had a furry companion in our house. My oldest son kept asking when we would get another dog, and my husband and I both kept randomly looking. We were starting to feel emotionally ready for another dog, but also my youngest who is 19 months still isn’t sleeping through the night. I kept thinking maybe when she turned two because I also didn’t want my oldest to get much older without getting another dog. Over the summer, I’ve especially felt like I wanted to go ahead and get one, but I just kept thinking, “I’m so tired.” I was worried it would be too much. However, in retrospect, I think God was nudging me to be ready emotionally and he would handle the rest. I knew when we did get another dog, it would either be a lab or golden retriever. (Side note: We lost our two fur-babies in 2023. They both lived long happy lives. One died of cardiomyopathy in January, and our other died with cancer in October.)
Then one morning after we had gotten a decent night of sleep, for us anyway, and our two oldest were at my parents, my husband was randomly looking at dogs again. That’s when he saw Finch. We had been looking for months, and then there he was. A lab mix puppy about two months old at the humane society. (Also, he may be a lab mix, but he seems mostly lab.) Not only was he there, but he also had a sibblling there that they named Radley. That name really stuck out because it sounds similar to Rally, which was our lab/hound mix that we had for many years and loved so much. My cousin pointed out that that was fate.
My husband then asked what I thought, and again, I had slept decent and felt more rested, so I said something like, “well, I’m in a good mood right now, so I’m down if your down. If you think we should just go ahead, then we can see if he is still available, and if he is, then it’s meant to be and we can’t turn back then.” Spoiler alert, both puppies were available and our application was approved.
We waited until we knew we were going to be able to get Finch to tell our kids about him. As soon as they called and gave us the okay, we told them and they were so excited!
The next day, we were able to go to the Humane Society and meet both puppies and get our new furbaby. One of them had a black nose and the other had a pink nose. We were leaning towards the one with the pink nose only because it was such a contrast to our dogs before. However, once we got there, we felt we should meet both of them to make sure he would be the best fit.
They brought Finch out first, and he ran right up to me, so of course that melted my heart. He then greeted my boys and my husband. My middle son pet him, but when they brought Radley out, he wouldn’t even touch him. He just said, “I want the other one.” My oldest said he liked them both and couldn’t pick, so when the middle was so decisive, we just kind of laughed and knew it must be the one we were supposed to get. I also personally felt more of a pull towards Finch. Radley didn’t run right up to us, she waited a moment then ran to my husband and oldest, but then after a moment she backed back up and just started chewing his leash. She was super sweet and adorable, but I think Finch was a better fit.
We had been talking about different names and had compiled a list of names we loved the evening before and morning of getting Finch. They gave him the name of Finch, and of course he hadn’t learned it yet, so it was okay to change it if we wanted. We had worked our list down together as a family and I really thought Rex was going to be his new name. However, after an hour of saying, “that’s probably it, but lets meet him before we make it concrete,” my son said, “maybe let’s don’t use Rex,” before we even got to meet him. On the way home after getting him, we were talking again about names. My oldest then said, “can we keep Finch? I like it.” Our middle said, “yeah, I like Finch.” My husband and I looked at each other and then both said we liked it too, so we told them yes. We enjoy the show Person of Interest, so it made us think of that.
We have officially had Finch a little over a week, and he has been doing really well. The first few days, my husband pretty much gave him his full attention most of the day to work on training him (potty, crate, chewing, sitting, etc.) I worked with him a little, but I focused more on the kids. It was really nice that it was on Labor Day weekend, because we didn’t have any plans and could just hang out at home, and it was also a long weekend. I think it really helped both the dog and us adjust. (Not fully of course because that will take time, but enough that it feels a bit more like a new normal.)
Also, speaking of Labor Day, I didn’t even think of it at the time, but after a few days, it dawned on me that that’s when we got Snickers, our other furbaby that passed away in 2023. That’s when I knew it must be a God thing because what are the odds that we would find the kind of puppy we wanted, his brother had a name similar to one of our late dogs, and it was the same weekend we got the other one of our late dogs.
He only had anywhere from 1 to 3 accidents inside daily the first day. I’m also scared to type this because I don’t want to jinx it, but we are just a few days past the week mark, and he didn’t have an accident yesterday or today. He has also been going to sit at the back door when he needs to go potty. Fingers crossed he keeps that up.
He has learned to sit, and he was walking good on a leash within the first three days. He is a puppy, so of course he chews and tries to nibble on you, but we have been teaching him not to by saying “no” or “leave it,” and then redirecting him. He has been doing pretty good with the kids also. He will jump up on you occasionally when he is excited, but he doesn’t do it too badly. We’ve had to tell him no, but he seemed to stop pretty quickly.
I was super nervous about crate training him. We want him sleeping in his crate at night, and I was worried he would cry or bark. I thought it could take a good week or two to get him to stop. However, I’m so happy that he is actually doing amazing with it! We kind of have a routine already where we let him lay in the bed with us for a short bit after the kids are down for then night. Then when my husband is about to go to sleep (he’s more of the night owl, and I fall asleep earlier), he has been putting him in his crate. The first night took the longest of course for him to not bark or whine. My husband sat with him on the floor with the door open until he seemed okay. I’m so proud of Finch! He didn’t bark all night! Only first thing in the morning when it was time to get up. The next day, my husband worked more with him to get him comfortable with his crate. He had done some research on the best way for dogs to realize that’s their space and so Finch would feel safe there.
Most nights, he has only barked a few times and then been okay throughout the night. He has woken randomly during the night and started barking a few times, but we get him to stop pretty quickly and then he is fine again. However, it’s not always his fault. Last night for example, he only woke up and started barking because our 19 month old woke up crying. Thankfully, they both got settled back.
We got him a collar, leash, and I also ordered a harness before we went to pick him up. However, I guessed on the size and got a medium. It was way too bit for him, so he had to sport a pink harness and collar that my family let me borrow for a few days until his new blue collar and black harness came in. 😆 He did seem to mind though.
Overall, he is doing really well and learning quickly with his training. I would be lying if I didn’t admit that a small part of me was worried I’d regret getting another dog before I got fully attached to it because of how much work they are. However, I’m happy to say that while it has been hard (especially today 😅), it’s been so worth it and I don’t regret it one bit. I also am already starting to feel attached.
Watching my family with him has kind of help heal my heart in a way that I didn’t even realize I needed.
Week 2 Update:
He went the entire week without an accident inside! 🙌🏻 He is also feeling more comfortable around us and his puppy side is really coming out, which means we have really been having to watch the chewing even more. He is still doing really great!!
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