So, as you know, we have yet to have any "real" children. This means that Barkley is completely spoiled and treated like our baby! Ever since we bought the house, we've been promising him a backyard for his birthday... which happened to be the day after we took possession. However, since the house was not exactly in tip top condition, he had to spend several days at his "grandma's" house.
Not only was this difficult on my mother, her cat and Barkley; it was very upsetting for us. I was sure Barkley would feel abandoned and I actually cried on his 7th birthday.
We had both known it would be tough ahead of time, so we actually planned our projects so that we would complete the "dog proofing" projects first.
We knew Barkley's sensitive nose would have trouble with the fumes from the floor staining, so we did that right away.
... And the resulting debris would have been dangerous. It's difficult to keep Barkley away when we're doing something since he likes to be near the action, so we made sure to take the garbage to the dump, before we brought him home.
While Barkley would have found lots of interesting things to sniff in the backyard the day we moved in...
We were glad for a chance to clean up some of the dangerous and hazardous materials before he joined us.
Finally, Barkley's not terribly adept at climbing stairs. It's a quality shared by all greyhounds who are rescued from the track, since they spend their whole lives either in a crate or on one level. It actually took Barkley a year and a half just to learn how to jump into the car. Trust me, we tried to teach him- It's not fun lifting a 70lb dog into the car. We love old houses but the stairs are steep. We knew runners were necessary so we found an affordable, stylish diy stair runner to make ourselves.
Finally, on Thursday (one week after the move) we were ready to bring our boy home. He seemed to understand that the house was our home right away. He enjoyed exploring the main floor so we decided to walk upstairs so that he would follow us. He only cried for a few minutes before working up the courage to climb up the stairs to join us.
Now he sprints up and down the stairs and is back to being his usual "Velcro-dog" self. Like in the condo, we have runners and rugs all over to make it easier for him to get around but he seems to grip the hardwood much better than the slippery laminate at the condo.
But he LOVES his walks. What dog wouldn't love to take his morning constitutional along the York Beltline Trail?
We're still unpacking and tackling projects, but Barkley doesn't mind the chaos as long as he's with us. It feels good to have the three of us back together... and exactly where we should be.
