My wife and I got a puppy a few months ago. I thought I knew how to take care of a dog -- my family always had dogs growing up -- but it’s been a real learning experience. Some of it is obvious stuff. Before we adopted Ruby, for example, no one was peeing on the floor of our apartment, and no one desperately required a walk at 6:30 in the morning.
But none of that was particularly surprising. Unpleasant, sure, but I already knew those things. Those were the ones I’d dealt with as a kid, when my parents didn’t feel like taking Spot (and later brown Spot, and later Sugarplum) on a walk.