As I’ve mentioned in past blogs, in addition to being a Senior Trainer at AnimalSense, I’m also an animal wrangler for commercial projects. I was on a shoot a few weeks ago for a television commercial, and the animal I was working with was an 8-week-old puppy.

Ahh, an 8-week-old puppy.

She was a little black and white bundle of pure adorableness. Tiny feet, a smooth round belly, soft floppy ears, eyes that melted my heart, and that unmistakeable puppy breath. Few things in life are better than puppies. They are tiny bundles of love whose sole purpose is to melt people’s hearts and make them take them home. And this puppy, she was working it hard. Not only did she have the most adorable way of sighing on my neck when I held her, but she was also extremely similar to my Khaleesi, who has just outgrown that soft puppy phase and is now a teenager, ready to roll. Fortunately, I was strong, and her puppy magic didn’t work on me. Another few hours though… well, thankfully it didn’t come to that.

You might wonder, who wouldn’t want that little bundle of preciousness? How could I turn that down? Well, because my own dog just turned a year old, all the not so precious puppy times are still fresh in my memory:

• Sleeping, or attempting to sleep, with my finger in the crate so the puppy wouldn’t wake the kids with her howling.

• Waking up, sometimes multiple times, to carry oh-so-adorable puppy outside for potty breaks. In the cold. Which, without doubt, will wake a person up better than cold water thrown in her face.

• Trying to coordinate work,chew teenagers and errands. What about a social life, you might ask? Sorry, we’d love to… but we have a puppy. People with puppies soon realize how tiny those bladders really are.

• Puppies chew. They poop. They pee. Puppies cost a lot. They need a lot of attention. As I stared into this little precious baby’s eyes, all those sleepless nights, dollars spent and time put into ours flashed before my eyes.

I absolutely adore Khaleesi, and deciding to adopt her was one of the best decisions we ever made.

As I think back to those crazy puppy days, I know I wouldn’t trade them for the world. However, I also know that I don’t have it in me right now to do it again.

So please, I beg you, if you find yourself being hypnotized by a puppy who’s working it hard, break the spell for a moment. Really think about the commitment you would be making. You may decide that now is the best time to let yourself go and fall completely under that puppy’s spell. If so, congrats! However, you may realize that a puppy is just too much for you to handle. Maybe you’d be better off adopting a more settled adult. Or maybe a dog isn’t right for you right now. If that’s the case, I still want to congratulate you. Realizing this is the best thing you could have done, both for yourself, and that little bundle of puppy love.

Have you fallen victim to the puppy spell? Share your story here.