Dog Fish

Back on the Our Military Journey (Thus Far) post I mentioned that I moved to Pensacola on December 30th, 2016. We wanted to start the new year fresh and fun, so we decided to throw a New Year’s Eve party.

We woke up on NYE and made a plan for the day, which consisted mostly of going to various thrift stores to try and find dinner and coffee tables. As we sat on the couch eating breakfast, we watched the tail end of Oceans Eleven with Brad Pitt and George Clooney (this is an important detail). 

As we drove around, my husband would NOT stop talking about getting a dog. The topics of conversation ranged from when could we get one, to the type of dog he wanted, to names and ages, etc.

On my end of the universe, I had just moved in with my fiancé, we had little to no furniture, and I had no job, we lived in a tiny apartment, and OH I’ve never really had a dog before. AKA I was not onboard the dog train. I love dogs, but it wasn’t great timing.

So what did we do? We got a dog. insert eye roll.

The story goes as follows:

We had been to a million thrift stores and found a coffee table, but that was it. We still needed a dinner table with chairs and groceries for the party, so we headed to The Naval Exchange and The Commissary.

As we’re driving we establish that it’s about to monsoon rain, we have limited time to get to the respective stores because they’re closing early for NYE, and we still have to set up the house and make food for the party.

So where did our plan derail?

Our plan derailed when my husband made the craziest U-turn when he saw a sign that read, “Pensacola Humane Society”. I was so grumpy and against it, but I also didn’t think he was serious.

We walked in and saw a few dogs of interest, but he liked the one with the word “rambunctious” on his “about me” sheet. Sounds great hun, a psycho dog in a tiny one bedroom apartment. Solid idea. 

I said “no, let’s just wait it out for a puppy that we can train,” and we went about our business.

We found our dinner table relatively quickly, and then went to grocery shop. As we’re grocery shopping, my husband morphed from his adult self to a 5 year old needy boy.

Something along the lines of, “BUT MOOOOOOMMMMM if we leave him at the pound he’s gonna be all alone for the New Year.” 

The man-kid really knows how to lay it on thick. So we’re shopping and he calls the society to ask them what the latest adoption time was. They gave us a time and it basically required us to run around like manics getting our groceries and speed over there. Naturally that’s what we did.

We arrived at the society, and requested to walk the rambunctious one. Horrible idea. He pulled me and ran all over the place. It was a nightmare. He definitely fit his description.

While this was occurring, and older couple was walking a good dog named, George Clooney, and they informed us that he had a brother inside named Brad Pitt. Like come on now. Seriously?! Brad Pitt and George Clooney?! We just watched Oceans Eleven ugh! 

It was too much of a sign to ignore. Like what are the odds?!

They tell us that GC walked really well on the leash and knew basic commands, and all the things you want a dog do be doing. My husband looked at me with the biggest puppy dog eyes ever, requesting to walk Brad Pitt, so I begrudgingly said yes.

Our first encounter with him was like a dream. He was a 4-6 month old golden/white “lab mix” with possibly some pit and boxer in him. He sat tall, he heeled, he was respectfully playful, it was great. Ugh, I hate admitting that. We filed the paperwork and put him in the car, where he slept the whole way home.

When we got home we rushed to set up the party and get him all cleaned up. As our friends arrived, they couldn’t believe we had gotten a dog. We definitely looked like idiots, but it’s fine, we are. He was such a good boy and slept in the corner the whole night. And that’s the story of how we got our Tuna boy.

About his name:

I can’t remember if we named him that day or the next day, but what I do remember is my husband wanted to name him, “Hamilton”  (because of his obsession with the musical) and I wanted to name him something stupid. I love a funny/stupid dog name.

I remember we were in the car, and my husband said, “Hamilton,” and I said that it was too long. I then said, “Taco,” and quickly declined because it was too obvious. I then aggressively said, “Tuna,” he said, ‘no’, and so we named him Tuna. It’s mostly because we love tuna sushi, which is weird and morbid, I know, but we also watched The Office with our Big Tuna and it just fits. 

The Time We Gave Tuna an Annoying Little Sister:

When we moved to Corpus Christi, TX., the dog fever sparked in my husband again. At Christmas time he was scanning pages searching for the perfect puppy.

We are both terrible at keeping secrets and somehow it came out that my Christmas present from him was going to be a puppy. Yes, I know, it was actually more of a Christmas present to him, but whatever.

Everything happened so fast on the day we got Mahi. My husband spilled the guts that he was getting us a puppy in the morning. I was annoyed, but again, didn’t believe him. Then plans fell through with whoever, and next thing I knew I was in the car with him and Tuna on the way to San Antonio.

All we knew was that her parents were a pure bred Australian Shepard, and a pure bred Golden Retriever. The lady said her dogs mated, and she just wanted to put the puppies in a good home. So we were sold. 

As we got closer, I became more excited because I have always wanted an Aussie and he has always wanted a Golden. I was picturing the most beautiful Aussie coat with Golden features, but when we arrived, the lady walked up and handed us a jet black fur ball. 

• 

• 

• 

She was absolutely adorable, but I wish I hadn’t built up that much excitement for an Aussie coat! Anyways, on the way home we introduced her to Tuna (who instantly loved her) and tried to come up with names. Again, I was going the stupid route and my husband was not. I realllllly wanted to call her cow, but he said no, so we ended up agreeing on Mahi…a type of tuna. Fits the stupid pet name category very well!

How this applies to the wing it lifestyle:

I’ve never truly owned a dog, and while I love my husband, he has NO idea what he’s doing either. Half the time they eat something and we furiously Google, “can they eat ___”. In case you are wondering, they can eat apples, cheese, carrots, etc. but lemons, raw chicken, and almonds/some nuts are probably a no go. We learned the lemons and chicken one the hard way…sorry Tuna. 

• 

• 

So far, Tuna has survived almost two years with us and Mahi is rounding out her first, so I would say we’re doing ok. We’ve definitely had some hiccups here and there, but that’s the fun in it all. And it’s given me something to write about. 

As I always say, if your dog eats/bites/gets stung by a bee and you don’t know what to do, just wing it….and probably call a vet and google how much Benadryl to give.

Thanks for reading!

-D