Puppy Love

So I did something really really stupid yesterday. REALLY stupid. What, you ask? I shall tell you what. I took my daughter to the brand new Petland in our neighborhood.

I know it sounds harmless enough, and it was - at first. We looked at all the little parakeets and ferrets and bunnies and hamsters and then... PUPPIES. Damn PUPPIES. They had a whole bunch of the cutest, sweetest puppies you could imagine - all shapes and sizes. Long hair, short hair, big, small... EVERYTHING. All with little signs on their cages "You can take me home for only $60 A MONTH!!" Imagine - financing a puppy!! Who knew? But actually, $60 a month didn't seem so bad... Hmmmm....

Anyhoo, there I was, trying not to show weakness to my daughter, who was busy "oohing" and "aaaahing" over every last one. As long as they all stayed behind that glass window, I was good to go. But Lexie played the trump card. "Can we see that one?" she asked one of the teenage employees, who was only too happy to oblige. Next thing I knew, we were ushered into a little cubicle along with this tiny little pomeranian puppy - and I couldn't get the stupid grin off my face.

The thing weighed all of four pounds or so, just a little ball of fluff, actually, and as he ran around, nipping at Lexie's pant leg and wagging his tail, I found myself mentally weighing the pro's and con's. We already had two cats - one of them diabetic. Plus, said diabetic cat was about five times the size of this little guy. What if he tried to eat him? Seriously?? I mean, he eats everything else, he MIGHT think the puppy was a squirrel or something... That would be awful. And ok, $60 a month doesn't sound bad - but for how many months?? And what about vet bills? And a crate to train him? And food? (Well, ok, so the food would probably run about a buck a month - how much could a dog that size eat anyway?) What if he chewed everything in sight?? What if he couldn't be housebroken? What if he barked incessantly? What if he whined all night?? And what if his presence bothered the cats so much they started marking their territory?? My house finally exorcised the most recent cat pee incident - I couldn't take that smell again.

But gosh darn it, he WAS cute. Lexie picked him up and he looked her in the face and let out this little "grrrr!" that cracked us both up. "Oh, so you're a tough guy, huh?" Lexie asked him. And his tail wagged furiously. We decided he would have to be named Jaws, and that every time we saw him coming we could do the Jaws theme. And we laughed about him running around the house. And Lexie explained how she would train him to not bother the cats - at least, not TOO much. I admit it, I was breaking.

But then I came to my senses. The employee looked over the cubicle and asked "How's it going in here? He's great, isn't he?" Lexie enthusiastically agreed, and I smiled tightly. "Yeah, he's great, but I think we need to do a little research first..." Lexie knew that was the kiss of death.

After a couple more minutes of puppy time, we gave Jaws back. I knew it was the right thing to do. Although I DID love that fluffball to death (and Lexie knew it, too), it was so not the right time to get a puppy. To be honest, I'm not sure if there EVER will be a right time. At least, not while I'm working full-time, Lexie is in school, and the boys are still alive. Lexie has been continuously giving me very valid arguments in favor of getting Jaws, but the responsible me knows that it's not going to happen. No matter what.

Which makes me really sad. I wish I could just give in and go pick up Jaws, but that wouldn't be fair to him or us. Lexie doesn't understand that right now, and I wish I didn't either. Because then I wouldn't even care about things like how much time he would spend in the crate, how the cats would react, how much more money I would have to spend to own a dog... Unfortunately, though, I do.

So it looks like Jaws will have to find another family to go live with. And I will have to hope that Lexie eventually gets tired of her puppy campaign and gives up. At least for now. Who knows, if TBOTE sells and I'm home all the time...