Should We Buy A Dog?

About six years ago, my mother enthusiastically bought two Jack Russell Terrier pups from the Humane Society shelter after the death of their beloved family pet, a yellow lab named Benjamin. Benjamin had left her and my dad heartbroken and dealing with an empty nest, so to speak. Since he was the family dog for several years in which I lived at home, I too was quite depressed by his passing. After a few months with the new pups, my mother realized she’d made a mistake. ”What was I thinking?” she asked herself, after finding another chewed-up shoe and scrubbing the carpeting for the 5th time that week. I know exactly what she was thinking, though. She was thinking that she wanted a cuddly, furry baby to fill her heart and her home. She wanted to be a good person and rescue a dog that would otherwise not have such a good life by providing a fenced-in yard, a nightly walk, plenty of toys and love. When she found the sister and brother with the sad story (the Jack Russell Terrier pups), she cried and took them both home. The puppies were adorable and very affectionate and cuddly, of course, but what she didn’t know was that they would grow up to be crazy dogs that liked to chew and jump and scratch everything in sight. My mom called me one night, completely exasperated, and told me she was thinking about taking both dogs back to the shelter. At the time, we had a 5 year old and a 2 year old, but wanted to help them out. We knew my parents were stressed and we thought we could keep one of the pups ourselves. How difficult could one puppy be anyway? So, we called him Charlie, one of my favorite names to this day, and took him home with us. I must say that we gave it a really good try, but Charlie turned out to be too much for our family, too. After several months, we made the decision to take Charlie back to the shelter and promised ourselves we wouldn’t get another dog without thinking it through first.

Since that time, I still think fondly of my time with Charlie, but time is often too kind to memories. Time softens the edges, scrapes away all the rough patches, and refills them with softness and lightness. I remember Charlie as cuddly and sweet, a dog that would sit beside me and sleep while I watched tv at night. I remember Charlie as a playful, gentle dog that rolled around with my 2-year-old, never nipping or growling. I remember Charlie as a sweet, cuddly pup chewing on his bone while we snuggled by the fire; a perfect addition to our family. What I like to forget is that Charlie jumped on every person that stopped by, regardless if they were friend or foe, sometimes for the entire duration of their stay. Although he’d never bitten our children, he had playfully bitten a few of our friends when very excited by their arrival. Because of that, some of our friends had stopped frequenting our house and instead invited us over, reminding us not to bring our crazy dog. Also, I like to forget about the messes he made almost daily. He destroyed our new living room couch, chewed on the legs of our tables and chairs, and often appeared at our back door jumping and scratching, needing several minutes of clean-up after digging in our garden, dismembering baby bunnies, and chewing on all the kids’ outdoor toys.

Because of our past failure at dog ownership, I’ve thought long and hard about whether we should get another dog or not. We are an active family that likes to take walks and runs and go to the park often. We hardly ever go on vacation, have a lot of love and attention to give, and a couple of boys who have been begging for a dog, even promising to help with the cleaning, walking, and feeding. However, we also have a baby now. It isn’t easy to put aside my fears and concerns over the rare-but-serious cases in which dogs have attacked and even killed babies and children, even though they of course aren’t likely to happen. Additionally, there are other very likely scenarios that could occur. For one, who’s to say that I will have time to walk a dog every day? Sure, we take a walk or jog most nights, but sometimes we are too busy or tired. Other days, we are simply MIA, taking boys to swim meets, cub scout excursions, or family events. I honestly know that I will not have a lot of time to train a dog, and therefore would only be interested in getting one that was older and already housebroken and temperament-tested. Although that shouldn’t be a problem, there’s still the concern over the retraining. It’s kind of like children. My kids know not to even ask for sweets or soda at my house, but suddenly forget that I don’t allow those things when at Grandma’s house. Who’s to say if a “housebroken” dog we choose will continue to practice good potty behavior at our house? Who can say if a “kid-friendly” dog will love my children? And let’s just go back to the fear about my baby’s well-being. Who’s to say that, even though a dog seems to not be interested in eating my daughter, won’t decide she is something that must be hunted as soon as I leave the room to grab a cup of coffee or use the restroom? I’ve read you are supposed to never leave a young child unattended with a dog, not even your own dog, not even for a second! That means that while I’m home during the day, I would have to crate the dog any time I needed to…do anything!

Since this is a financial blog, allow me to go into the detail of dog ownership costs. Depending on the size of the dog, the food can cost up to $10/week. That’s over $500/year and all we’re doing is feeding him/her! Most shelters charge about $50-$100 for a dog and that includes most upfront care including microchips, de-worming, spaying/neutering, and shots. Vet and pet-med bills will run you another $200-$300/year and that’s assuming your pet is healthy. Honestly, should we even consider getting a dog before we are out of debt?

All logic aside, we sneakily visited a shelter on Wednesday “just to look.” My husband was out of town on business and was therefore too far away to stop us. My opportunistic 11-year-old knew that he’d have a better chance with Thinks With Her Heart (that’s me!) than when Mr. Level Headed is around (yea, that’s Jeff.) Before we had even looked at all of the dogs, we met and fell in love with a 6-year-old lab mix named Sage. We learned that she had come from a family with a child who became allergic. I tried not to cry in front of the kids, who already had me wrapped around their little fingers, but felt strangely drawn to this dog. Was she meant to be ours? She’s good with the boys, doesn’t seem to notice the baby, and has a sweetness in her eyes I can’t describe except to say that she felt very familiar to me. We went home that night without a dog, but decided to return with Level Headed on Friday when he returned from his business trip.

This story is continued at..
Should We Buy A Dog – The Conclusion