For those of you who didn't see this on FaceBook, I am seriously contemplating "taking one for the team" and getting a dog for the family. Before I say anything more, let me stress that I am not and have never been an animal person. We had a couple of cats when I was about Davis' age, but to my knowledge, I wasn't terribly upset when mine ran off or was killed or whatever. There were a couple of dogs in my life growing up, but they came and went pretty quick and I don't remember being bothered. I despise cats, hate animal smells, don't need animal love, etc. As far as I am concerned, I don't want to give a lot of time, love and energy to something that will never talk back to me. I mean, where is the fun in that??
That being said, I know full well that if we get a dog, I will be the one that loves it the most. I will be the primary caretaker of said "family" dog. I will be the one that takes it out on walks, feeds it, runs it around to appointments, trains it to go outside, etc. Never mind that I have no idea where/how to begin on all of that, I don't really want to learn. It's a lot of work, I know. And I don't know if I am up for it.
However, last night was the first time I felt my heart really soften to the point of giving in. We had Sarah and Hadder, relative newlyweds and "old" friends from Fort Riley, over for dinner. They were dog-sitting and brought Wrigley (Wriggly??) the Shih-tzu. Sarah is already well accustomed to shih-tzus as her parents have one, Schnitzel. Our kids had SOOOOO much fun with Wrigley. At the end of the night, we laughed for a good ten minutes while Wrigley tried to outsmart Davis to get Davis' Woody doll. It was so funny and the kids were so happy. I looked over at Jasen, who had tears in his eyes, and I could tell he was thinking "Why don't we have one of these? Oh, YOU!"
After the Rendons left, Jasen and I discussed possibly getting a dog instead of a hamster in January, when we were supposed to get Grace a rodent for doing so well with her end of keeping her room tidy. I mentioned it to Grace as I put her to bed, just to see if she would be okay with not getting a hamster in exchange for getting a dog. The girl looked at me with tears in her eyes (why are we such a family of criers??) and said "Oh Mama, you know, you know I am alright with that." It was so sweet. No excitement accompanied the pleading, only precious, sweet pleading that it would indeed be alright with her.
Jasen has agreed that he would get a "girlie" dog. Listen, in a perfect world, we'd get a lab or golden that would spend all it's time outdoors, running and playing. However, this isn't a perfect world and we have no idea what kind of housing we'll be in next or after that or after that. So a smaller dog is in order. Of course, this would be an investment, too. I keep reminding my SOOO tight hubby (really, you all have no idea how tight he is with money) about that. However, Jasen grew up loving his animals so much, even Simon the hamster. As previously mentioned, I did not. And the idea of a mostly indoor animal doesn't really please me, but I know that if we are going to do it, that's the way it's gonna have to be!
When I think about how much fun the kids had with Wrigley last night and the sweet tears of my hubby and daughter, I am almost there. ALMOST. I just don't know what to do. Discuss amongst yourself...
Oh, and I haven't even touched on the whole, how will we move AT LEAST three more times with a dog??
4 comments:
Dear Sara,
Sean and I recently adopted a dog and this is the first dog I have ever owned (as you may know, my family are cat people because they are so self-dependent.) But I would like to assure you that if you don't buy a puppy, but a dog that is at least a year old and has some training, then the most work you will have to do (in my opinion) is vaccuum all the time. And I guess walking her. I don't usually do that because we have a large backyard, but the worst part about walking is that it's time consuming. According to the rules of the adoption center we got her from, our border collie spend about 75% of her time inside, but other than shedding all over the place she is really a good dog. she begs to go outside and when she gets in your way inside you can stick her in her crate for a couple hours. Our dog wasn't trained very well when we got her, but I've got her to understand sit, quiet, and off, which I think is pretty good since I've hardly taken any time with her.
So I would just like to encourage you and say: You can do it! Good luck in your new adventure!
--Jessie (Michener) Sanders
I'm about to cave too! I actually held a patient's dog in my lap and petted it for about 15 minutes on Friday. I know, hard to believe. We'd be looking at a small dog though. I don't know, it's craziness!
Buy the dog! They will be happy and you will too. I want kids and a dog!!! Get Machu Picchu now.
Get a dog. For totally sure :) I am currently owned by 2 and couldn't imagine our family w/out them. They're our first spoiled little babies.
Post a Comment