Dogs

I've been thinking a lot about dogs lately.  Our kids have consistently hassled us for years about getting a dog.  Our forays into petdom have not been that great.  First, Marti thought a saltwater aquarium would be a great educational tool for the kids.  Hundreds of dollars later ( and one big ice storm power outage that had us surrounding the tropical fish with candles)  we gave up.  Then came Chip our bunny
Chip was great.  We kept her in a pen in the backyard.  She would get out and run and play with us and she was alot of fun.

The problem was we would go days where we forgot about her.  We wouldn't feed her regularly and then we would over do it.  We once fed her too much and she croaked.

Next was Bobby, the hamster.  Guy took very good care of Bobby and we were able to keep him in the old aquarium .  Did you know that hamsters are largely nocturnal?  Bobby would wake up about the time the kids would be going to bed.  Not to mention he would so vigorously run on his wheel that by 2:00AM it would be banging the side of the aquarium.  He died of old age at 3.5. seriously, their metabolisms guarantee a short life.

People are crazy about their pets.  Too crazy.  Pardon me if I believe there is some seriously misplaced affection.  No offense, but adoption is for people not cats. 

However, I love dogs.  I raised Beagles as a  kid.  I watched my Dad experience some real companionship with his walking partner Barney, an adorable Basset Hound.  I believe the mandate of dominion in creation is a blessing and we experience that when we care for and have pets in our lives.

Our problem is, we are never at home.  Maybe when the nest empties a bit more, we'll get a dog.   I promise if we do, we will do a good job of caring for him.  I hear Jack Russells can run up to 10 miles at a time with no trouble.
We'll see.