There are times I can't control myself, and yesterday - while waiting for Greg to pick me up from work - I simply could not stop looking up horror stories of owning dogs. The worst qualities and events... killing cats... vomit... sifting through poop for your possessions... ruining furniture... keeping you up at night... not being able to travel anywhere... sucking up all your money... medical emergencies... etc. And once again, as I am so talented at doing, I had a leeeetle bit of a freak out.
I can't not go to this shelter this weekend because it looks like there's a dog who might be perfect. But simultaneously, I can't at all comprehend what's so great about dogs. I know it's a byproduct of a panic attack, but seriously? Why are there MILLIONS of articles online talking me OUT of getting a dog - but there's not ONE out there to explain why dogs are so great? They're all incredibly vauge, like: Here's a list of the 3 million things we can THINK OF that can go WRONG when you own a dog... Oh, and by the way, expect to spend THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS EVERY YEAR, ESPECIALLY WHILE THERE'S AN ECONOMIC CRISIS, but of course it's all balanced by the "rewards". Rewards? WHAT rewards? Do I get a prize for lining the pockets of Petco executives? Do I get some sort of Certificate I can frame? I know I had a dog for 5 years before I left for college, but give me a break - that was 7 years ago, I'm a little hazy on the dog ownership memories. We also haven't found the right dog, or if I wanted to be Gloomier, we DID find the right dog, and somebody else adopted her. Oh AND my Dad told me in no uncertain terms the other day that getting a dog of any kind will be a disaster, and even if we get the dog undercontrol before we start our family, something will go COMPLETELY WRONG the SECOND we have a child...
So here we are, sitting in our car in front of our house, while I'm explaining to Greg all the reasons I'm quite suddenly terrified, and I had an epiphany. An epiphany that makes me feel like a selfish jerk...
Greg wants a dog. Greg actually wants a dog. The man who would barely touch my parents dog, who always begged off from pet interactions because of his allergies, the man who dug his heels in and made me drag him across the threshold of cat ownership.... This man wants a dog.
And we should both want a dog. And the thing is, I do. It's just that when my patience is tested I get all jumpy and freaked out. So, now, we're basically in the positions we were a few weeks ago when Greg was totally freaked out by the idea of getting a dog and I was insisting on visiting shelters - reversed.
We came to a sort of whacked out compromise that makes absolutely no sense to anyone but my gut. We are going to go to Ohio to check out dogs at this particular shelter TONIGHT. We're going to leave straight from work and drive 1.5 hours there and see if they have our dog.
If they don't have our dog, we're going to wait. We're going to wait till we're both gung ho, or until we move, or until I'm not working, or until I'm pregnant, or until a big booming voice comes down from the sky and says "MEGAN AND GREG, GET A DOG NOW!" Actually, that last one would probably be the most ideal situation.
If they do have our dog, We'll make it work.
We called friends of ours last night who live 4 hours away. They're our age and married with their own home. They both work long hours, sometimes on weekends, and they have a Puggle whose only real issue is that he gets a little worked up when there are dogs on T.V. Greg quizzed them about their schedules and their routines. And then he asked them what I wanted to know - What's good about having a dog?
HIS first answer was "They're a pretty good companion when you're husband does something retarded." and while this was a spectacular answer... HER answer was pretty good too, "He gets us out of the house more. We get good exercise on walks and we go to parks and get ouside more than we would be motivated to do otherwise."
And the thing is, Greg's already gotten 45 minutes of exercise MORE per day for the last 3 days with just the possibility of a dog hanging over our heads. I can only imagine what will happen if we actually get a dog.
I wouldn't mind if you all answered that quesiton for me too. What's good about having a dog?
So after we talked it through and made this "either - or" decision we rehashed around when we're going to have kids. We talked a little about insurance and alittle about the distance from our families. And Greg slumped in his seat and told me that he was sad because he was looking forward to having a dog, and I felt like a total jerk right up until he said, "Well... you have insurance now... and if we're not getting a dog, maybe we should have a baby!"
And I freaked out.
And he had a good long laugh.
jerkface.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
3 comments:
That's easy - dogs offer total devotion and unconditional love. Like you said, they're a lot of work and you have to be strong and train them but you also get to see them be ridiculously excited when you come home, and have their bodies wiggle because they're wagging their tail so hard just at the sight of you.... that's powerful stuff.
My mom always said that training a dog was similar to disciplining kids - you had to be clear with the rules and consistent on follow through (i.e if you threaten to leave a store if your kids act up, you have to be ready to drop everything and leave if they do - always). I'm no dog expert but it sounds like you're on the right path... you can't train a dog with love, there has to be some firm direction too, just like with kids.
I'll give you the one tip my mom gave about dogs - when you train them to 'come', you only say the command once. otherwise, you're training the dog that you don't really mean 'come' until you've said it 3 or 8 times.
There is no real way to explain what you get from having a dog. I think it's like children. When I look at other people's whiney, sniffly, smelly kids I think "UGH - NEVER!" but I have friends who once thought the same and now sing a different tune now that they have their own.
The love you get from the dog and the pleasure you get from watching them play etc is the reward. There are times you will hate them though. We have a 10 month old puppy and I cursed a blue streak when she jumped on the bed and peed a half hour after I changed the sheets. I did NOT like her at that moment.
... then about an hour later she crawled up on my lap, wagging her tail and looking up at me with those eyes and I was in love again.
All the things you read in the articles are true, they DO happen. They don't all happen at once, to the same people, with one dog. It's a lot of instances spread out over a lot of stories... and the things they break/chew/pee on today are the things you laugh about tomorrow.
It's not that different from cats really. Surely yours must get into mischief at times? Knocking something off a shelf or scratching something they shouldn't? It ticks you off but you love them anyway .. only in my opinion it's even better with dogs )
Hope you find the one tonight!
Pets and kids are alike in that you can't make a pro/con list for either--the cons will always win, because the cons are tangible and the pros are intangible. One pro I don't hear about very often--pets and kids both provide endless funny stories. At least, they'll be funny to you. Whether or not anyone else finds them funny is debatable.
Post a Comment