A 22 inch from head to (kind of) tail little Frenchie has captivated my heart for life! We survived “puppy life” as we celebrate his first birthday.
It all started with a wish and constant begging that a puppy would be great for our little family. As the many promises were made, this momma finally caved in and thought why not?!
We previously wrote about our family growing by four paws and our journey into month three with our French Bulldog, Tyson. Now we are approaching his first birthday and wondering where the time has gone!
The Puppy Life Adventure
Puppy life is absolutely adorable as they are as cute as a button. However, puppies do need a lot of TLC and it’s around the clock work! I recall many nights where I did cry (a lot) and wondered if we would ever settle in as a unit.
Every once in awhile I would ask people, “does it get better?” Everyone was always so kind in telling me that it did but I was wondering if this is just a thing people say as I am still waiting for child rearing to get better (LOL!).
Luckily, I was never alone in our journey as my husband took on the harder tasks such as potty training (I did my time with our daughter). 😉 We developed a routine that worked for our family’s schedule and sometimes we would change it up to have Tyson learn to adapt to change. We all know how hard changes can be for anyone.
Our puppy life adventure was hard as it tested our strength, patience and energy levels in the same ways as raising a child did.
But we did it together as a family and we are still learning each and everyday.
Learning Highlights
The beauty about life is the countless opportunities we have to learn from it and having a puppy provided so much growth for us all.
Tyson has taught us that love is truly unconditional and that we were missing a piece of our family puzzle which was him. With his quirky and big personality, he has brought great joy to our lives. The bond he has created with each of us individually and as a family has been remarkable!
The parenting world has prepared us already for our next learning curve with our puppy and that is all the unsolicited advice. Everyone becomes an expert and feels the need to offer opinions/advice on what one should or should not do. However, people tend to forget (or maybe they were never told) but just like a child, no dog is the same. We learned quickly that it was up to us to train Tyson daily and we noticed it was working well for us.
The most important thing that I learned was that I will protect Tyson like I would my daughter. We have had situations were people have been rude to Tyson and we even had a child trying to hit him and Momma Braga comes on strong. I honestly can’t help it as this little guy has captivated my heart and he has no voice to speak with. Therefore, I will speak on his behalf. To the many people afraid of my Frenchie, you should actually “BEWARE OF THE MOM.” That would be a much more accurate fear and this is what inspired my tshirt (done by Lil Babe Accessories).
One Year Milestone
As Tyson turns the BIG ONE on September 24th, our hearts are truly full. We are so grateful and thankful that we adopted him into our family. We are thankful to his breeders who carefully select families for their puppies and for always supporting us in this journey.
To all our family and friends who have opened their hearts and made a forever place in them for Tyson, thank you!
We are beyond thrilled to have Tyson in our lives as it seems it would have been incomplete without him. I am honestly relieved that I survived and it did get a bit better. 😉
Tyson has been our superhero as he saved us when we didn’t know we needed saving. For that, we are forever thankful.
Happy 1st Birthday Tyson (A.K.A. Batman)!
Make sure to follow Tyson’s adventures on Instagram, click here.
Until next time…Happy Parenting!
-Momma Braga
