on living with a dog

The Maddie dog has been part of our lives for a week and half now and its already becoming quite clear how she is sort of changing the rhythm and way we live our lives.

She goes to bed early. And she gets up really early. And since we have had her I find myself doing the same. In bed by 10:30, up by 6. She's sort of like a new boyfriend in that, at the moment, my favorite parts of the day are going to bed with her and waking up with her - so I find myself copying her sleep schedule. Is that a bad thing? I'm now getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, am going to bed and getting up at the same time ... funny how much more energy I have during the day!

Another benefit of having a dog is that she's sort of like a people filter. In general, dog people are the kind of people we want to hang out with. I'm really not sure about people who don't like dogs. We love to take her walking downtown and right away we realize who the people we would get along with are - they're the ones who stop and play with her and ask questions about her and then tell us about their own dogs. She is bringing us closer together to friends that we have never really spent much time with, but would like to. A dude from my law school class and his wife, who I've always wanted to hang out with, have invited us over to grill (date yet to be set) and let our dog play with their dog in their fenced in yard. These are the kind of people we like to hang out with.

Having a dog has made my already active and outdoorsy lifestyle even more active and outdoorsy. My dog likes to go for walks, and I like to take her. So I'm now spending an 1+ hours a day just walking outside with the dog. We have a nice walk we do through a sort of woodsy undeveloped area and I love that she gets me out there everyday. Please note that I have also lost no less than 5 lbs since getting the dog - Josh calls it the doggie diet - I'm just so happy that I forget to eat!

More than anything, I've noticed that I wake up in the morning just SO excited to start a new day with the pooch! Not that I wasn't happy before getting her, but this is a whole new level of euphoria. I'm wondering when this is going to wear off. Life just seems so much better with a dog!