Well, we did something I always said we would do, but continually pushed to the side. We bought a dog. Mark is a dog lover – always has been. I’m more of a dog – there, me – here, kind of person. Much like any fear, everytime I gave myself moments to think about bringing a dog into our home, I came up with a list of cons much greater than the pros. And the more I looked at it, the more anxiety I felt.
Of course I felt guilt too, always telling Mark “not this year” “let’s wait” “I’ll think about it”. But for once, my anxiety fully outweighed any guilt I could feel.
Until Saturday that is. We had a very productive morning cleaning, and doing chores. The one day I insist everyone pitch in with the bigger cleaning.
OK admittedly the before picture wasn’t that bad Saturday. That was taken when we first moved in. But this room was our unpacking zone, so it was still quite cluttered. Doesn’t it look so much better?
I digress. We have promised the kids that if they do well on their Saturday chores, then we can have an adventure in the afternoon. We started this two weeks ago, and had great success. That week, our adventure was to McDonald’s PlayLand – so fun!
Last Saturday, our adventure was supposed to be an afternoon of sledding. That quickly changed. While waiting for Prince L to wake from his nap, Mark was browsing Pugs for sale. He just loved Pugs, and showing them to me with his own puppy dog face. This time, the pug wasn’t too far away, and the owners were willing to meet us halfway (near my parents). So our afternoon of sledding turned into an afternoon in the car to potentially check out a dog – although in my mind we were just going to visit my parents. It helped keep the anxiety at bay.
Of course once we saw Tank, the girls fell in love, Mark was in love, and I was outnumbered 5 to 1. Nope not even Prince L was on my side. We loaded Tank into our mini-van and headed to PetSmart to purchase the neccesary dog items – Food, bed, harness, kennel, and of course a dog tag with his name and our address.
Top of my list was the Kennel. I don’t feel comfortable having a dog running about our house when we’re not home, or in the middle of the night. So far, he’s not a fan of the kennel. It may be too small – so we’re looking into a bigger one, or finding some other way to keep him contained but with more room to move about.
Today happens to be the first day I’ve had Tank alone. Mark is back at work after our 3 day weekend. I was nervous to tell you the truth, but so far so good. He’s been a good dog, and most of my anxiety has gone away. He did get pretty rambunctious at one point, and showed his teeth while making some awful noises, that he followed up with whining. I remedied it by taking him out back, and just walking around with him. Seems like he just wanted a little company while he explored the backyard further.
There was also the incident of running off down the road, just as we needed to be loading the car for Kindergarten drop off. Once I got the kids to stop chasing him however, he came bounding back. A biscuit for listening, and into the kennel he went until we came back home.
