Oookay. So I haven't posted much in the past week(plus), because of this:
What happened (long version):
My dog (my baby) who I raised from a pup was 7 years old when I met and moved in with my S/O. They became best buds, maybe even closer to each other than to me - but he was still always my baby.
He died last year, at 14. I've always had dogs in my life and assumed I always would - but after Fagan, I just didn't really want to do it again. I couldn't even imagine another dog in the house.
When I started grieving less and the house started feeling too quiet, I got my budgies as my intro to the bird world. And the more I fell in love with them the more I wanted a big parrot. I've posted about that a lot I adore everything about my birds and I no longer actually consider myself a "dog person".
Well.. when I was at the pet shop looking at the poor bare-eye cockatoo who bit me, my boyfriend was off petting puppies. He came over to me and despite all of my warnings about the craziness and noise of cockatoos, he was completely supportive of me taking home that bird. He has been behind me from the beginning, both saying and demonstrating that he would be okay with whatever I wanted - whatever I decided - even if it was going to be something that disrupted his routines as much as mine.
But I also saw his face when he was petting those puppies. And while I was taking my time to seriously consider the ramifications of bringing home a cockatoo, I also became more aware of all his interactions with our friend's dogs. And I realized that I was being really really selfish.
After my experience with the shizzty bird store, I decided to put my search for a big parrot on hold until I could find a *reputable* breeder or find one at the rescue when they open up to visitors.. but I also realized that if I'm not getting a big bird right now, and I'm home all day right now, I'm actually in a really prime spot to make this work for my boyfriend.. to make HIM happy instead of me.
So we brought home this little guy, Argus.
He is supposed to be a Pyrenees mix, but he is really small so we're doing a dna test next week.
So far he is incredibly chill. He sleeps under my chair most of the day.
He has been exposed to the budgies and barely acknowledges them. They don't really acknowledge him either. I have nervously allowed them to fly loose around the same room he was in and they weren't scared and he wasn't showing any signs of wanting to chase..
My fingers are crossed.
I'm actually terrified. I love my boyfriend, and the excitement he has for having a dog makes me so glad I went with it, but I also love my birds so much. I don't know what I would do if something happened.
I hope I can find the right balance to let them keep their freedom and quality of life, but still be safe.
I don't really "love" him yet because I'm nervous (and he makes me miss MY dog) and I miss just relaxing with my birds every day, but he is pretty darn cute. And he's not half bad at target training either.
He is also the first thing besides our house that is really truly both of ours, so we're definitely a family now.
Cypress and Citrine still seem happy. They got too many seeds out of me from guilt, and I think they got a bit fat - weight was up a whole 4-5 grams each this week. When I had them out in the living room they actually came down from their playstand and landed on my head.
I'm determined to spend more time with them this week and have more posts about their silly lives.
What happened (long version):
My dog (my baby) who I raised from a pup was 7 years old when I met and moved in with my S/O. They became best buds, maybe even closer to each other than to me - but he was still always my baby.
He died last year, at 14. I've always had dogs in my life and assumed I always would - but after Fagan, I just didn't really want to do it again. I couldn't even imagine another dog in the house.
When I started grieving less and the house started feeling too quiet, I got my budgies as my intro to the bird world. And the more I fell in love with them the more I wanted a big parrot. I've posted about that a lot I adore everything about my birds and I no longer actually consider myself a "dog person".
Well.. when I was at the pet shop looking at the poor bare-eye cockatoo who bit me, my boyfriend was off petting puppies. He came over to me and despite all of my warnings about the craziness and noise of cockatoos, he was completely supportive of me taking home that bird. He has been behind me from the beginning, both saying and demonstrating that he would be okay with whatever I wanted - whatever I decided - even if it was going to be something that disrupted his routines as much as mine.
But I also saw his face when he was petting those puppies. And while I was taking my time to seriously consider the ramifications of bringing home a cockatoo, I also became more aware of all his interactions with our friend's dogs. And I realized that I was being really really selfish.
After my experience with the shizzty bird store, I decided to put my search for a big parrot on hold until I could find a *reputable* breeder or find one at the rescue when they open up to visitors.. but I also realized that if I'm not getting a big bird right now, and I'm home all day right now, I'm actually in a really prime spot to make this work for my boyfriend.. to make HIM happy instead of me.
So we brought home this little guy, Argus.
He is supposed to be a Pyrenees mix, but he is really small so we're doing a dna test next week.
So far he is incredibly chill. He sleeps under my chair most of the day.
He has been exposed to the budgies and barely acknowledges them. They don't really acknowledge him either. I have nervously allowed them to fly loose around the same room he was in and they weren't scared and he wasn't showing any signs of wanting to chase..
My fingers are crossed.
I'm actually terrified. I love my boyfriend, and the excitement he has for having a dog makes me so glad I went with it, but I also love my birds so much. I don't know what I would do if something happened.
I hope I can find the right balance to let them keep their freedom and quality of life, but still be safe.
I don't really "love" him yet because I'm nervous (and he makes me miss MY dog) and I miss just relaxing with my birds every day, but he is pretty darn cute. And he's not half bad at target training either.
He is also the first thing besides our house that is really truly both of ours, so we're definitely a family now.
Cypress and Citrine still seem happy. They got too many seeds out of me from guilt, and I think they got a bit fat - weight was up a whole 4-5 grams each this week. When I had them out in the living room they actually came down from their playstand and landed on my head.
I'm determined to spend more time with them this week and have more posts about their silly lives.
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