John and I have been together for 11 years - and it’s been a long road to say the least. This was written when we were living in our condo in August 2017.

Now, when you read the title to this post, I bet you were thinking it was about trying a new fitness regime, a crazy HIIT routine, or maybe a sprinting interval workout. Nope! Instead, I am going to offer some advice of a different kind, wisdom that I have accumulated over the last fifteen months of living with and caring for puppies.

I was just sitting on my porch outside, when I it occurred to me it has been a year since I moved in with my fiancé, John, and our rescue-puppy, Chunk. Getting John to agree to rescue a puppy was a challenge in itself. And when we eventually got Chunk at 8 weeks old, he vowed that we would only have one dog until we moved into a house.

Today, as I’m sitting here, I look down and I see three dogs looking expectantly back at me, all waging their tails. And just behind them is our furry black and white bunny, munching happily on some hay. Granted, one of the dogs is my Dad’s newly rescued 8-month old puppy, Allie, but, she is a frequent visitor to my apartment to spend time with my two dogs, Chunk and Murphy (our Guiding Eyes for the Blind foster).

Now, at this point you have either laughed, or you are aghast, but just let me say this; anyone who is thinking of adopting a puppy, make sure you know what you are getting yourself into! Luckily for me, I had a network of people who could jump in and help whenever I was in a bind.

Committing myself to these guys and this girl has been quite the experience - it takes a lot of energy, responsibility, and planning approaching the scale of a military operation. Sometimes, I find myself trying to picture what life would be like if I hadn’t said yes to this life with animals. I’d be able to travel more, or perhaps just jump into a car and drive wherever I wanted to go. I would have no obligations holding me back.

The truth is – I wouldn’t be who I am today if not for having lived with animals all my life. Growing up, they taught me compassion, patience, love, and trust by simply being in my world. Now when I am the one actually and totally responsible for them, it’s a whole other world.

Yes, life would be simpler, but not necessarily better. I remember the subtle nagging fear I felt as I signed the adoption papers for our 8-week year old puppy, Chunk. I remember thinking, ‘how can I take this little guy on when I have two jobs, live at home with my Dad, and am still figuring out my life?’ Chunk’s litter was rescued from a town in Texas, where the mother and her puppies were found. The pups were only two days old and the shelter was about to euthanize the entire group. Pet Rescue discovered them and placed them all, including the mother, in a foster home in New Rochelle, NY until they could all be adopted.. Since our family golden retriever had passed away a year before, I wanted so badly to adopt a female golden retriever mix. But when I saw Chunk, a chubby, cattle dog/Australian Shepard /German Shepard mix, I knew that was it – he was going to be mine.

I’m not going to sugar coat it – it was a challenge. Waking up in the middle of the night to take Chunk outside to go to the bathroom, schedule every minute of the day to make sure that he wasn’t left alone for too long, and ensuring that he wouldn’t ingest something that would harm him were all part of the job – I felt like a new mother. He was a tough puppy too – he LOVED to chew EVERYTHING and would howl when he was left alone. He also had, and still has to this day, the need to be let out off lead to simply run around like a psycho – or as we call it – “he needs to let his crazy out.”

Every morning when I walked into work at the gym, my client’s would ask for the newest zany story about Chunk, and ever time my story ended, they would all tell me – “You are crazy.”

And maybe I was. But then we doubled down on crazy. When Chunk was 8 months old, we were asked to foster a Guiding Eyes for the Blind puppy, and we agreed. And there we were, with another 8 week year old puppy – Murphy. “Here we go again” perfectly encompassed exactly what we were in for.

And Chunk was in for a surprise too, now he had to learn what it was like to be a puppy parent – getting up at 5am every single morning because somebody wants to play.

All in all, it was worth it.

Yes, all of this was way out of my comfort zone, but I wouldn’t trade the experience for anything. It gave me a whole different perspective on life, and I think that’s what we all need at some points in our lives – something to take us out of our comfort zone and force us to push ourselves through challenges.

Let’s get one thing straight – I’m not telling everyone to go out and adopt a puppy – it is not for everyone. I’m simply suggesting that at some point in everyone’s life accepting a challenge that we are not comfortable with and taking full responsibility for something we aren’t used to can lead to personal growth and strengthening outside of the physical.. Sign up for a workshop, volunteer with a charity, try your hand at cooking for yourself, commit to a service trip to help those less fortunate – no matter what your comfort zone might be – push beyond it. It will change you for the better and to some degree, make you grow as a person.

And now, having made it through the majority of puppyhood – John and I could not imagine our lives any other way. Each and every day we are out with the dogs, going on long walks and hikes, making dog treats for the following day, and playing rock paper scissor to see who has to take them out for the last round of bathroom breaks before bed. Nevertheless, it is never boring and we couldn’t be happier. Not to mention everyday our two goof balls find some way to make us laugh and never doubt the value of this life-changing decision.

By Maddy Swertfager

Challenging Your Comfort Zone

“Rise and shine its go time”