From Wrightwood Avenue to Wright Guttmann: Our First Dog

In early November, we threw a few blankets into my wife's SUV and headed to Carmel, NY. We walked into a pet store hosting a PawSafe dog adoption event. We had been eyeing a couple dogs online, and one little guy caught our eyes.

Wright is named in honor of how my wife, Kat, and I met. We lived on opposite ends of Wrightwood Avenue in Chicago. He's just about 4 months old. This is our first pet together. I grew up with cats and dogs, but Kat did not. We have been eyeing pet ownership for a long time and knew we would shortly get a dog when we moved out to the suburbs.

We were told he is a hound mix. A good ole pooch. A generalizable but lovable mutt.

Raising a puppy has been more difficult than we imagined. The first night we had him was pretty much sleepless, and it wasn't until he was crate-trained when nights were bearable. Potty training was rough. We routinely brought him outside during the day about every 1-1.5 hours for the first two weeks. He went out multiple times at night. Currently we take him out once a night on average.

Wright loves life, and he loves showing affection. So far the toughest issues to date are jumping and nibbling behaviors. My dad's dog, Oscar, is a senior dog who is a slow-paced, gentle giant. One day I hope they’ll truly enjoy each other’s company, but for now Wright is a pesky bumblebee, and Oscar is the long-suffering honeycomb.