Azuki the terrrible

When Azuki first came to us at 8 weeks of age she was so scared that she did not come out of her crate for a day and a half. We were simultaneously worried and relieved--worried that we had gotten a shy dog who would be hard to socialize; but relieved that THANK GOD she likes her crate and we don't have to go through the pain of crate-training her.

Well, two days later, Azuki came out of her crate (after we invited another toy poodle puppy friend, Toffee, to come entice her), and we realized that both of our assumptions were wrong. She is NOT a shy, quiet puppy. She has turned out to be one of the most friendly creatures walking on 4 legs with fur on the face of this earth--to the point that it was hard to walk her for the longest time because she would not stop jumping on people and trying to lick them. She also decided, after coming out of her crate, that the outside world is so much more interesting, and that her mommy and daddy were not monsters afterall. While we heard NOTHING from her crate in the kitchen for the first night, I would endure two weeks of sleep deprivation while she whined, clawed at the cage, and at times threw her body against the door with such ferocity that you would think that our kitchen was inhabited by a wild lion in distress instead of a small furry pup weighing less than 400 grams. She was tiny, so lovable with her Afro hair, which covered her entire head and hiding her eyes.....that is except when she ripped around the room, nipping our feet, chewing our fingers, or trying to bite me in the face. In those excruciating two weeks my days consisted of following Azuki around and cleaning up pee on the carpet every 5 minutes , crate-training her in between and withstanding THAT WHINING, and not able to sleep or do any work BECAUSE OF THAT WHINING AND PEEING. Going to my part-time job was almost a relief because I was away from that beast, although I found myself snapping at my clients and losing patients with my colleagues because I was so sleep-deprived and mentally exhausted.

It was also in those two weeks that I seriously considered returning her to the breeder--not due to any fault of Azuki's--since she is only acting as a puppy does--but because I felt like I was failing so badly in my new responsibility, despite the fact that I had read a million info on the internet about raising a puppy/dog, as well as read two whole books prior to her arrival. I had bought every item which is recommended by dog owners and trainers. I had read about puppy behavior. I just wasn't prepared for the real thing because she was a LIVE CREATURE IN MY HOUSE!

And she was taking over my life. My always patient and responsible husband said to me: "You say that now but just watch, in 3 months you won't be able to even entertain that thought of getting rid of her." I was adament that I would not, and even started to think about all the possible people that might take her into their homes.

Well, at the end I didn't give her up. And yes, my husband was right. Despite the fact that Azuki is still as crazy as ever, and still takes up much too much of our time and finances that we are willing to admit in public, there is no doubt that I REALLY LOVE her. Yes, she digs into the dirty laundry basket every chance she gets and chews up my underwear (gross, I know), and yes, she wakes us up in ungodly hours on weekends (like 8am, which is like totally unacceptable to be woken up on a Saturday) by thumping her forelegs on the side of our bed and licking our toes, demanding to be fed and entertained. And yes, she is scared of the sound of the wind and will bark and then hide in the bathroom for like, an hour--all is forgiven when she is tired from running around and acting crazy, and tilts her furry chin up for us to scratch. Or when she licks our faces and then buries her head under our armpits. Or when she rolls over for us to give her belly scratches and then rolls around on her back in the carpet in sheer ecstacy because she is so happy that we are giving her a tummy rub. Or when she tries to wiggle her way out of her trainer's arms to get to me when I pick her up during her twice a week puppy daycare excursions.

I imagine such contradicting feelings, like thinking she is so cute but so freakin annoying at the same time, that I love her but want to smother her with a pillow, must be an universal puppy owner thing.