a dog for a day

Troy and I have both agreed...NO PETS!

We don't like the idea of potty training an animal, we don't like hair on carpet or furniture, we don't like slobber or the smell of our hands after we pet a stinky animal, and basically, we just don't want the extra responsibility.

UNTIL...jack came along. We have become softies. When Jack sees a dog, the excitement in his eyes is enough to make me want to buy him a pony, giraffe, elephant...anything he wants!

The other night, a stray dog followed us into our house. It was so scrawny, malnourished and sad looking that I couldn't help but take pity on the poor thing. We allowed her in, gave her some warm milk (is that what you give a dog?), and even made a bed for her in the garage, not having the heart to put her back outside. I couldn't wait for the morning so that I could present Jack with the biggest surprise of his life.

As expected, Jack just beamed with happiness as soon as he saw our new dog. So much happiness and so much beaming that I actually thought for a second, "should we keep her?"



All morning we played with her. The joy was bursting from the walls of our home. Then, the first red flag rose. Our joyous new canine was apparently menstruating. Yes, you heard me...on her "cycle". I guess I never chose to think about female dogs having a cycle, but they do. The proof was spotted on our carpet.

So, I took the dog outside. Then things really started to crumble. Jack melted down with the loss of his new friend. He sat at the window crying. Finally, I succumbed to bringing the dog back in the house for some more milk. I didn't know it would cause more meltdowns.

Jack wanted to do WHATEVER the dog was doing. When the dog was lapping up milk from the bowl, Jack wanted to do the same. When I told him, "No...Yucky" he just burst into the most pathetic tears I've ever seen.





Finally, the peace was restored when I gave Jack his own bowl of milk. Go doggy, go.




After a day of emotions, we were back to square one. We are not fit to be parents of a dog AND a child. So I called the animal shelter and by the end of the day she was gone. It was fun while it lasted, sad when it was over, but we are more emotionally stable and not needing a carpet cleaner!