Clarke Central High School freshman Gretchen Hinger reflects on the lesson learned from the challenges of her new puppy.
Clarke Central High school freshman Gretchen Hinger’s new puppy stands in a messy living room while tearing apart a pillow. Hinger has had trouble with her new puppy and reflects on the lesson learned from getting a new pet. Illustration by Lillian Sams
Throughout the past two years, I have hoped for my own puppy to raise. I sent my mom pictures of adoptable dogs every day. These pictures just made my mom frustrated because she, unlike me, knew how much work another puppy would be.
A few months ago, my mom mentioned there could be a possibility of us getting a German shorthaired pointer puppy. We have a seven-year-old German shorthaired pointer and my dad wanted her to have a friend because she seemed lonely when we left her at home during the day.
Finally, after looking for a suitable puppy, we found one.
We had to wait a couple weeks before we could pick him up, and the excitement was killing me. Eventually, the day came and we drove three hours to adopt our new family member, who came with the name Buck.
After we got home, we realized that he was more trouble than we planned for. Our first German shorthaired pointer gave us few problems as a puppy, and we were not prepared for our new puppy to be difficult.
He would pick up every object in sight and eat it. He ate all of my mom’s flip-flops, he put everyone’s socks under the bed and once we returned home to discover that he had strewn trash all throughout the house.
With this experience, I have realized that the big decision to get a puppy has come with responsibilities. His path of destruction could have been avoided with more preparation and consideration beforehand.
After Buck realized he was not supposed to eat anything other than food, he has recently been trying to bring sticks into the house which is a whole new problem, but even though he has been a challenge he still makes us very happy and this experience made me realize that big decisions come with responsibility.
