CJ wants a dog.

So, when CJ's family came to visit they brought their dogs and CJ was way excited. He has been wanting a dog for so long and now that we are getting closer to our own home, you know a place that we don't have to move from in two years, a place where the landlord can't say "no pets allowed", we are that much closer to actually getting one. CJ wants one right away and I am very reluctant to getting one at all. A little back story to my reluctance at getting a dog. We did have two dogs back in Arizona. We had a German Shepherd mix. She was a good dog that we got when she was a puppy. I carried her everywhere for a few months and then she got too big for me to carry. She also never really potty trained and had more energy and more fur than I could handle at the time (I was very depressed and thought a dog would help me feel better.) When she was about 1 1/2 yr. old I convinced CJ that I couldn't handle her any more and he agreed to let me find her a new home. I am so glad that my brother's family took her. I did love her and wanted her to have a good home. She is super happy and I get to see her when I visit. I still had a desire to have a dog as a companion so I started looking for a small lap dog like the one I had as a child right away. I found one that a family had rescued from a vet (someone had abandoned it there) and were giving away for free to a good home. She was the same breed as my childhood dog so I jumped at the chance to get her. It didn't take long to realize why she had been abandoned. We only had her for two or three months before we found her a new home too. Since then I have felt so guilty for wanting another dog. I had two chances and failed at both. I know that some of those feelings that made me give the dogs away are still there, ie: shedding, potty training, chewing, slobber, tons of energy, and the one that I absolutely hate the most, disobedience. I don't want to be afraid to open the door for fear the dog may get out, and then I have to chase it for an hour before I finally catch it. That happened waaaaay too many times with the other two dogs and I know I can't handle that! Anyway, back to our current dog dilemma. Like I said we had dogs here for a few days last week and it was kind of like a trial run for me. I wanted to see how the kids would handle it, how the dogs behaved, and so forth. Here are a few pics.Megan was outnumbered.

Megan's writing was interrupted.

Gunner was OBSESSED with Dakota's rear end.

Megan found a cool new water toy and snack bar.

Rebecca stayed under a blanket the whole first day. Can you see a pattern here? Our biggest concern was that we had to hold them back when the door was opened because they would get out and chase the neighborhood dogs and cats (remember, my biggest fear in getting a dog.) Plus we are moving into a brand new house and it sure won't look new once we get a dog. I must say though the dogs were pretty well behaved. CJ was hoping that this would help to convince me to get a dog. I want to be open minded about getting a dog so I told him that maybe we'll get a small dog first. They offered to give CJ one of the puppies from the next litter and he keeps asking me if I want a male or female one. Labs are NOT small dogs! What am I to do?

Okay, okay, it wasn't all that bad.

Megan realized that the cool snack bar, and water toy were not meant for her.

She did get lots of lovin'.

And CJ looks pretty good with a dog.

Maybe with some good training a dog might not be so bad. Don't tell him, but I think I might let him have one of those puppies when they're born. I still want my little dog though. Only time will tell what happens.