Schmorgy.

Towards the end of my pregnancy with Mila, D frequently (fake-) joked that we should get a dog to watch over us and keep us company at home while I was on maternity leave. I said that was a crazy idea and there was no way I was going to train a new dog and care for a new baby at the same time.

After we lost her, though, it felt so quiet and empty at home that I really, really wished that we'd gotten a dog -- a little creature to inject some life and lightness into the house. The idea hovered in the back of my mind all year until, sometime late last fall, the scales tipped and weight of All The Boring Practical Reasons Not To Get A Dog (who would watch and train him? how would we convince our landlord? what if we didn't have enough space? what would we do with him when we were traveling?) was surpassed by the weight of All The Reasons To Get A Dog (joy).

It took us a while to find the right dog and there was some heartbreak and PTSD along the way as we watched the first dog that we fell in love with get adopted by another family; but in February D found another one that he felt good about. He had been rescued by AHAN, an organization in SF that rescues and fosters stray dogs in Taiwan, and finds adoptive families for them in the US. There are lots of homeless dogs and puppies in Taipei, but they have a difficult time getting adopted at home and are often either euthanized at animal shelters or left to fend for themselves on the street.

His rescue name was Borg. The thing that sealed the deal for D, and then for me, was a video of him at his foster home in Taipei, stoically allowing two enthusiastic little girls to poke him, prod him, and pretend to eat his ears. A few weeks after we submitted our application for him, he arrived at SFO on March 3rd, scared and confused. Here he is meeting D for the first time in the international arrivals lobby.

We renamed him Schmorgy, short for Smorgasbord. He is about a year old, maybe a bit older, so D observed that it must have been not long after we lost Mila that the universe squirted out a little floppy-eared, golden-brown, bouncy puppy Schmorg. He was shy and hesitant for a little while when we first brought him home, but quickly settled in and let his true sweet, affectionate, silly self emerge.

First smile.

People-watching on Fillmore.

             

At Crissy Field Beach.

Giving D some encouragement.

His favorite things include:

• Holding hands.
• Playing chase with other dogs at the park.
• Digging holes and putting his face in them.
• Splashing in mud puddles and putting his face in them (sigh).
• Showing other dogs where the mud puddles are (double sigh).
• The beach.
• Chewing -- on rawhide, balls, squeaky toys, sticks, mulch...
• Cuddling on the couch with D.
• Sunbathing on the deck.
• Rummaging in his backyard dens (one in the way back, one under the flower bush, and one under the rosemary bush. When he's been in that one, he comes back into the house with his head smelling like rosemary).
• Baked pork buns.

I really feel a lot less anxiety about this pregnancy than I thought I would, at least so far, and while some of that is probably because of my own process, I give a lot of credit to the Schmorg. We're a lot less grumpy since he joined the family. He brings so much fun and innocence into our lives just by doing the simplest things -- smiling, sleeping, playing, and just wanting to be a part of whatever we are doing. He shadows us everywhere. To the kitchen, the bedroom, the backyard, the bathroom; wherever we go there is a little clatter of puppy fingernails against the floor, and when I turn around there is always a pair of upturned round brown eyes and a triangular black snout in a serious little brown face, hovering two feet off the floor looking up at me.