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Health & Fitness

2 Dogs or Not 2 Dogs

Deliberating on the right time to get a dog (or two) or the start of one family great dog adventure!

The day has finally come to get dogs. We are a humble family of four – mom, dad, 2.0 children – and we have waited patiently for this moment, waiting for the boys to be the “right age,” waiting for our jobs to settle, waiting for one of us to say, “Now!”  So I’ve declared it, receiving joyous affirmation from my sons and serious doubts from my spouse.  “Really?” he asked, “You want to make our lives more chaotic than they already are?”  If not now, when?  For chaos cannot be denied.  Besides, I argue, we are getting complacent with our two jobs and the daily after-school circus routine.  It’s true, we never really quite get it down: the schedule, communication, the timing of snacks.  It’s true, we are not always at the bus stop on time.  Soccer practice?  Isn’t that tomorrow?  Frankly, that chaos is getting old. Time for some new chaos!

And then there’s our cat, Izzy.  Best cat ever, equally patient, who reminds us gently each day to feed her and every few days to clean her litter box (I won’t elaborate how).  She has tolerated visiting dogs, mostly by disappearing into a closet for a few days.  Weighing in at thirteen pounds, she’s actually larger than my sister’s poodle, yet still retreats whenever this exuberant curly-haired creature makes her high-pitched barky entrance.  What would she think about permanent dogs?  Would she ever come out of the closet?

For thirteen years, my husband Tom and I have been asking, “Dog or no dog?”  We both grew up with dogs and cats (and a few horses, chickens and ducks).  We are generally active, and I love animals.  I’m not sure Tom “loves” animals, but they love him, and he loves that they love him. “See,” he says when Izzy settles down on his lap, “animals love me.”  I hesitate to point out that his lap is the only one wide enough for our super-sized cat, that she teeters on mine and bruises the internal organs of our scrawny eight-year-old.  Still, he is satisfied by her attention.  And when he visits his mother, her large loping German shepherd leaps with excitement because Tom is the only one who will play ball.  So, we’ve thought about it.  What would we do when we travelled?  Were we home enough during the day?  Would the kids really help? What about Tom’s allergies? We employed all the usual dog-delaying tactics, and like the great deliberators before us, our inaction risked hardening into a decision by default.

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My boys are now ages eight and eleven, and my youngest especially is beginning to pine.  He has a look, much like a puppy himself.  I do believe that when he’s not killing droids on Lego Star Wars or shooting his brother with a Nerf gun, he would be a loving companion for a dog.  In turn, there could be someone in the family as obsessed with projectiles as he is.

To move us all forward, I decided that the question needed to be rephrased: “Two dogs or not two dogs?”  After all, two boys, two dogs.  And, in its own weird way, two dogs could would work better with our two jobs. A bonded pair would be less likely to miss us during work hours, right? I’m pretty sure Tom’s allergies are not life-threatening, not to mention the hypo-allergenic possibilities. So now our deliberations have shifted and this family’s getting a dog…or two.

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