As promised, a few days later we enter the store to watch the races only to discover 4 Paws 4 Rescue holding an adoption event. Lovely. The kids have asked begged for a dog for nearly two years, following the death of my faithful 14 year old Pomeranian dog Boo. Boo came before husband, before kids and was our last surviving pet.
In the early 1990's I had adopted an adult cat and a kitten, and then my dog, in quick succession. I knew in my heart that they would probably die in rather quick order, too. Abby, the adult cat, was the first to die in August 2006. My mom died the following year in August 2007, following a year long battle with cancer. My second cat Teddy died in June 2008, followed with Boo's death in August of the same summer. It was a lot of loss in 2 year's time.
After Boo went across the Rainbow Bridge to pet heaven, it was oddly quiet in the house. He was 14 and certainly not an energetic dog anymore, rarely drawing attention to himself. Still, the silence in the house was deafening and it was not long before we started acquiring new pets. Just weeks after Boo’s death, Adam discovered a baby Cardinal bird in our bushes. After trying to save him, to no avail as it turned out, I decided it would be fun to adopt a bird. Enter Twinkle, our cinnamon pearl cockatiel. A few months later my son received Little Dude, a dwarf hamster, as a pet at Christmas. Several months later we adopted Sweet Pea, an older male lovebird, from our next door neighbors. Their daughter Caitlin was about to embark on her first year at college and time for her pets was minimal. She had a small menagerie of exotic pets and I think her parents were glad to decrease that number by one. Still, the kids hankered for a dog—in particular our 5 year old. Elise is obsessed with dogs. Stuffed animals, books, toys. If it was a dog, she wanted it. In a last vain attempt to assuage her desire, we took in the aforementioned guinea pig from a friend who no longer wanted her. And Iggy would be considered Elise’s pet. Four pets in four cages was probably not the most ideal situation but I was desperately trying to fill that hole. We even began pet sitting for friends on a regular basis to help satisfy that desire for a dog. Each time the dog would be reunited with their owners after vacation, my kids would cry. It was all a smoke screen. The fact is we aren’t just pet people. We’re dog people. No bird, hamster or guinea pig was going to fill that void.
Forgetting that the pig races were going on, the kids ran as fast as their little legs could carry them to a litter of 9 week old Lab mixes. Four of the pups were dark brown and black, who were clearly part German Shepherd mixed with the Lab. The other two were yellow pups, who resembled Marley of “Marley & Me”. While assured they were all from the same litter, I think mama was allowed a little too much freedom and mated with two different daddies and produced two different breeds in one fell swoop. The jury is out on what the little yellow Labs are mixed with. My guess is either beagle or maybe Jack Russell Terrier. All I know is that for being half Lab, they were surprisingly small for 8 week olds. They were about 6 pounds and had small paws by any one's standards. It was love at first sight between the yellow female and Elise. The two of them could hardly be separated. Personally, Adam and I were drawn to the Shepherd mixes. They were all seriously cute. And that is when things went seriously wrong. I had allowed the kids far too much time with the romping dough balls to turn back.
Honestly, I couldn’t blame them. I had been having feelings of maternal desire myself. I had never been without a dog in my life. Two years felt like a lifetime. But don’t get me wrong. I enjoyed the freedom from the responsibility of having one. Not having to worry when you had to be gone from home for several hours, figuring out who was going to take care of him when we travel, the pet hair on furniture and carpets – the vomiting and accidents. And the financial aspect. Not having a dog certainly had its perks and I reminded myself all the time of the reasons to not adopt one at this stage of our family life. Frankly, I don’t know that there is ever a good time to get one anyway. It’s a huge, monumental, and life-changing decision. And a decision that once you make it, you keep your commitment. Nothing irks me more than a lazy owner who decides the pet is too much trouble and either gives them away—or worse, drops them off along a busy street hoping someone else will take him in.
Fortunately, my husband was at home and there was no way I could ever make that huge, monumental, life-changing decision without him. Daddy became my ‘out.”. The kids left the store dejected and disappointed, but somehow they convinced Daddy to come back to the adoption with us to ‘look’ at them. Can you say, “Done deal”? Upon our return and resolve to adopt one, we asked the opinion of the owner and director of the rescue group in deciding between the male and female yellow labs. She said that the little girl was “Very high energy and will need lots of attention”. While that was the one that Elise would have chosen on her own, maybe she was a little more Marley than just in appearance. We went with the little boy, who became “Snickers”. And our lives have been forever changed.
So that is how we went to the store for the “Guinea Pig Races” and came home with a dog.
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