Today we officially ended our stint as dog sitters. Grace handled the transition well, but will no doubt start clamoring for our trial run to become a real run. Here's a quick rundown of our experience and my reflections on it.
* Ethan and Grace really did take care of the dog on their own. For the most part. There were only a couple of times that I had to step in and feed him or let him out to use the bathroom. Grace handled pretty much all of the clean up duty as well, which I was rather impressed with.
* Everyone enjoyed playing with the dog.
* This particular dog was pretty low maintenance. Definitely far less maintenance than any of my children. Hahaha. I don't know if this is a characteristic of all golden doodles or just Friday, but it was a pleasant surprise.
* We had the dog long enough for any novelty to wear off, and I will say that by the last couple of days, there was a bit of arguing over whose turn it was to do the unsavory tasks related to taking care of a dog such as cleaning up his poop. So that wasn't quite as fun to deal with.
* I surprised myself by being largely indifferent to and every now and then almost kind of enjoying the dog as opposed to being absolutely and completely anti anything having to do with him.
* This was a true trial run with having a dog, and I definitely think that if the kids {i.e. Grace} continue to beg and plead for a dog, we will definitely look into doing some research.
* If we weren't planning on adding another kid to the mix at some time in the near future, we would probably do some more serious research, but for now, I'm not eliminating the idea completely.
* The only other major concern that we would want to clear up before finishing that research would be to test all the kids for dog allergies. Jane's asthma has flared up really badly over the last several days and even Alex has been coughing a ton and rubbing his eyes quite a bit as well. It could just be a lingering cold, but if it's dog-related, we will obviously need to find that out before taking the plunge into dog ownership.
* In closing -- to be clear -- I am NOT saying I am now on board with the kids and really want a dog, too. I am just more open to the idea of legitimately looking into it at some point in the future. Although I will say, that now that Friday's gone, I do kind of almost miss having him around. I kind of got used to him. :)
And that's the story, morning glory.
3 comments:
but you are saying that you'd like another baby in the near future. ;-) I have to say that Friday looked quite at home in the Father's Day pictures. How old is Friday? The first three years of a dog's life tend to be quite active as they are just puppies. Luke, our dog, just pretty much sleeps and follows us around these days...
sounds like the berensteins bears and the trouble with pets :) just read that one tonight at bedtime. I bet Grace is thrilled that you are open to the idea of possibly thinking about getting a dog sometime in the future. I think I could pretty much might write it in stone that I will never have a dog. hahaha sorry andrew, eleanor, penelope and molly!
I think having a trial run is genius. June LOVES dogs, but she makes me feel bad for the dogs because she tortures them. I may may MAY consider it one day, but I cannot see a dog in our near future. But your idea of having a trial run is something I would definitely do before deciding.
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