I’ve been thinking of getting a dog for years but even though I have an eighteen-year-old son, I’ve never felt mature enough to have a dog. So when my friend Chris told me he and his partner Beth were getting a puppy, I asked if he’d chronicle the event, and for the next seven months, he sent me recordings of what it was like to have a puppy. It was hilarious and weird and totally harrowing.
Here are the Puppy Diaries.
Thanks
Thanks SO MUCH to Christopher Attaway and Beth Lewis for making these recordings. They are so goddamn beautiful and I will be forever grateful.
Thank you Tobin Anderson for your help in the edit.
Beth is a writer and performer and Chris makes a podcast called Left of the Dial, which is awesome. To hear the other Rumble Strip episode featuring Chris and Beth before their life with Mouse, click here.
Fantastic •
Whoa, this exactly describes first time parenting, the early years. I’ll always associate Six Feet Under with infancy of my firstborn because that’s what was on during the 4am feeding.
Glad they didn’t act on their worse impulses and ended up loving him despite all the sacrifices and annoyances. At least they didn’t have to deal with the consequences of it attacking a porcupine.
Great story! All prospective puppy owners should listen to this . The feet stuff cracked me up! But oh boy having raised many I can sympathize but then they are only with us for far too short a time! And until you have lost one you can not understand what that grief is like ! So those of us that can’t help it -we get another! And it all starts again!
The utter cuteness is by design, so you (and they) can survive their puppyhood (or kittenhood).
Wonderfully curated podcast yet again, Erica! Chris and Beth did a perfect job turning the experience of parenting a young dog into an all too relatable narrative. Thank you for 32 minutes of pure laughter.
absoutely endearing, woefully funny and edifying! I’ve listened twice now and it just gets better. Tonight I think I shall take to a friend’s for dinner for after dinner entertainment. I LOVE their marriage too; they have such a great time together and Mouse , altho’ hard, has made the marriage even stronger. I love the snoring! Why Mouse?
Chris and Beth? Can we be friends? I’ll sacrifice my feet on the wee alter of Mouse for you!!!
I know! I feel the same way!
Thank you for ALL your podcasts…I have methodically listened to many after starting with Finn and the Bell. I have suggested that to so many friends including those who have lost a child.
Your gift is the skillful way that you change insightful conversations into podcasts. You have an intuitive way connecting with people and the connection reveals what is true humanity. I have been a social worker for many years in Vermont and still love the connection part of the work. We can all be seen as gifts to one another with all our quirkiness, humor, courage and basic goodness.
Thank you Erica
NG
Just wow!
Made me cry
Made me laugh
Brought me back to my first months with
a shelter puppy, 2 rescue cats ( all three the
same age), new job, new home ( under construction)
plus a surly teenage daughter.. only 10 years ago
I was sure that I had made the biggest mistake but
wouldn’t change a thing!Thanks for the laughs
I loved this episode. Reminded me of 14.5 years ago when I adopted one puppy from a rescue group and was happy with my decision. Then the rescue group called and begged me to adopt her littermate. I did and I thought I was going to have a nervous breakdown the first year. And I’m a vet, so I thought I knew what to expect (HA!).
Now at the end of their lives, I don’t regret the time I’ve spent with them, but puppies are a huge commitment. I’m not sure if I’ll have a puppy again. Give me someone else’s unwanted but semi-trained adult dog any day! And there are so many of those who need homes.
Yes, puppies are cute and such a romantic idea but think about reality before you get one. Hope this episode makes a few people consider adopting an adult dog.
I think this is my final deduction too. Give me a reasonably trained adult dog any day!