Everyone, meet the newest addition to our family, Benny Balmforth!! We brought Benny home from Grifscamp Cavaliers in Albany on September 16th and we couldn’t be more in love with him! He is a Blenheim Cavalier King Charles Spaniel and was born on July 18th, so right now he is almost 18 weeks old. Cavaliers are known to be great dogs- they are very cuddly and sweet and love humans more than anything. We are thinking Benny will grow up to be around 15 pounds, which is the perfect size for us.

As much as we absolutely adore Benny, having a puppy is a lot of work! I’ve heard from so many people how hard puppies can be, and how much attention they need, but it really didn’t click for me until we brought Benny home. As sweet as Benny is he still has soooo much to learn, and it can be so frustrating when he has an accident in the house, or bites too hard, or whines at the stairs for no reason…. the list of problems could go on and on. I’ve cried multiple times since having him!

The little things get easier and easier to handle as time goes on (and as he gets better at training!), but there are two major pain points that are lasting a little longer. The first is his relationship with our cat, and original baby, Marshall. I obviously love Marshall to death, and think Marshall is the best cat in the world, so I think I was a little overly optimistic about how quickly they would become friends. Benny has been obsessed with Marshall since we brought Benny home, but Marshall unfortunately doesn’t share those feelings. I think Benny has wayyyyy too much energy for Marshall, and, although Marshall is always very interested in what Benny is doing, he doesn’t yet want to join in the fun! Things are getting better though, and Marshall seems perfectly content at home still, so I’m putting my dreams of them cuddling and playing together on the back burner for now.

My other major struggle since we got Benny has been a feeling like I’m losing a bit of myself since I’ve have had to give all of my time and energy over to Benny. I can work primarily from home, so I’ve spent so much of my time each day with Benny and very little time on myself, on work, and on things that make me happy. I’ve been feeling like I can only leave the house for essential activities, which pretty much just means the gym and work, and it seems like I spend all my “free time” while Benny is napping cleaning up after him or doing essential daily tasks that I can’t ignore. My mom says that I sound like a new mom stuck at home with the baby, and while I completely respect that my time with Benny is a total walk in the park compared to the struggles new moms face, I can sympathize with the general feeling of giving everything to your baby. Again though, things are getting better, Benny is learning and I am learning, and life is feeling much more normal lately!

Despite all of my complaints above, I love Benny fiercely and think he is such an amazing dog! He has been sleeping through the night since we got him, is doing wonderfully at only going potty outside, and is starting to learn to play on his own at home. He loves to cuddles and be carried, is always happy, and his constantly wagging tail and chubby freckled belly are the cutest things in the world! We are doing training and socialization at Wonder Puppy and I couldn’t recommend them enough- he is learning so quickly and loves going to his classes. He now has all of his vaccinations and we were able to start taking him on walks last week, and getting out of the house and exploring the world with him has been such a great experience for all of us.

I didn’t mean for this to get quite so deep, but getting a puppy has been such a huge change in my life- way bigger than buying a house or getting married! David and I are loving our time with Benny, using it as a learning experience, and looking forward to the years of love and joy that Benny will bring us! Also, how adorable is his cute little face?!