My doggy makes life better

My girlfriend and I always talked about getting a dog but found ourselves reluctant to committing on getting one. We were worried about the additional responsibilities that we would have to undertake such as walks, poo/pee breaks, where to take it when on holidays etc. etc. But as the impulse buyer that I am, I came across an ad for golden retriever puppies and thought it might be cool to surprise my girlfriend with a puppy for her birthday. So... I did it, I went for it and got this little runt.

Don't let that face fool you, this thing was an absolute nightmare.

We brought in our pup and after hours of trying to convince my girlfriend NOT to name her after a Disney princess we finally agreed upon "Lily", like the flower of course which also means "refined beauty". Lily for the first 2-3 weeks was an absolute terror. Her teeth were razor sharp and her claws like little blades scratching thin long lines down the length of my arms. Play sessions were fun, but came with a price..

During these first few hell weeks of having Lily I was also attempting to quit smoking for the 23rd time. I found myself being so distracted from my puppy that I thought less about smoking and was able to suppress the urge to restart. Long story short, over the 15 months now that Lily has been in our family I was able to finally actually quit smoking and I credit Lily to this. Not only this, I was a pretty regular drinker as well but for some reason I just decided to drink less and go out with my pup more often. I don't smoke, I drink less, I stress less and I go outside more often for exercise! Life is that much better!

This is our girl today, she was a nightmare for about 2-3 months but since then an absolute life changer.

This is my first Steemit post, and thought it would be a good experiment to start with a little blurb of one of the things I love most. Thank you for taking the time to read, your up vote and a follow would be most appreciated as I intend to put up more content related to cooking, life and blockchain tech.

Until next time!