Satori, (means enlightenment) is My Newest Relationship and Fur Baby

I found her on a Craigslist ad, which I'd been looking at in the two months that I had made the decision to be a dog parent. And being that I fought and waited and processed and was big traumatized in such a way that I realized and finally named my childhood emotional abuse programming that I had been in denial of for so long as a result of committing to parenting this dog. My last dog was when I was 10 years old and it served as one of the emotional triggers for my dad's abuse of my then dog and how unhappy our family was at that time. One day I came home and my dad had surrendered both of my dogs and gave me $40 to appease my grief. In just 5 days of parenting I understand WHY i waited so long. I really did not want to take on owning a living thing until I knew I COULD do a good job and be with it for its entire life. I always knew I wanted to live in Japan for a while, so now that I am settled and we are locked in socially anyway, its a good time to do this. It requires A LOT of time. I can't currently go to any appointments away from my home.

On Thanksgiving, I did not have a hanai (chosen) family or a family of origin Thanksgiving event to attend, and because of our social gathering restrictions my usual way of finding friends where I go didn't and wasn't going to work. I made Turkey Day DOG DAY instead! It all worked out as if it was actually meant to happen. I had a check that had funds that were available on Thanksgiving morning? Wow. First Hawaiian rivals the Japanese banks in slowness but this time they hooked me up? And it lined up with the puppy seller texting me back!! it allowed me to have the cash to finally BUY THE PUPPY i'd been waiting to get for so long. The whole adoption process from the SPCA required not just my property manager to create a pet lease, but they needed approval from the property's Board of Directors (?) as well to double assure that the dog that you were bringing home would not be returned back. I knew that I couldn't get a pit bull because most apartments I was looking in Hawaii restrict pit bulls and about 3-5 breeds mostly available at the pound but that's before I knew that I could get any dog to be my ESA, even a peacock or a turtle..but they can't sit on the plane, someone tried it. I was still waiting to hear back from the Board about things but kept looking on Craigslist, which is pretty much luck of the draw as far as who is a scammer or a puppy farm or real. This puppy was a real deal! I was so excited, but it wasn't real until the guy put the crate in my car and I rolled off nervously like I was stealing her that it was OFFICIAL!

Everything about being a puppy parent is hard as being a human baby parent and just as satisfying. This one sleeps through the night however until 6am at 5 months so she isn't a newborn which i think is way way harder. I didn't have to wake up 3x in the night. i normally wake up at 6am to pee as well, so its normal for me, except the going outside part. i take her downstairs to pee and then we cuddle until 8:30am. Having to put on shoes and run downstairs makes going upstairs to cuddle that much more satisfying. It's the same level of oxytocin received from cuddling with a puppy than it is to cuddle with anyone in bed in love exchange: your lover, your kids, your dog or cat. I'm so happy to get this on the regular again! Satori is a also totally an emotional support animal (ESA) which actually allows her to be any breed and I can live any where if she is allowed by a mental health or physical dr. My therapist is going to write a support letter and actually my primary care physician (Queens medical) said they don't do those. An ESA is NOT a service animal, so it doesn't get to go in Costco without a mask, in restaurants or with me at the strip club. I did manage to have one Tantra client so far with her staying in her crate even while I was playing my singing bowl! I was worried it would make dogs howl but it doesn't have the right high pitch to do that. It is my 5th day of dog parenting and boy am I exhausted every day, mentally and physically. Especially physically. This puppy likes to do interval sprinting 2x a day or else it might explode in my apartment. So we go out and run around the concrete outside. My apartment luckily has some decent enclosed facilities. But since she doesn't have her shots complete she need to stay away from other dogs and bugs because she can still die if she is exposed to too many people and other animals. She doesn't have the immune system for it yet. You definitely laugh and smile more, cuddle and build trust slowly over time. Its so great to be in a new relationship again!