I Love Him

Over and over throughout the years I have said "I am not a pet person". As a kid we had various cats and dogs. I specifically remember Oreo and Bubbles because the cats were kind of random. Well except maybe Midnight. I guess the rest never made much of an impression. My grandmother had parakeets when I was younger and a cat when I got into junior high. My first job as a street rubbish cleaner I purchased 2 parakeets that I called my own. Do fish really count as pets? These two birds moved to Oregon with me my junior year of high school, back to Washington for my senior year and then to Oklahoma with J and I.

In Oklahoma I decided to adopted a cat and offically making myself a pet owner again. When we received orders to Belgium I gave my last living parakeet (and our red belly toad) to a co-worker but was determined to bring along our cat. She did come to Belgium, a few months after us, when J's grandmother visited after Q-tip was born. With our orders to Germany and our choice to live in base housing we ended up giving away Princess. We were no longer a "pet family" and that seemed okay. For the most part.

In Germany I thought the boys needed a pet but refused to get another cat or a dog. I went the easy route and got 2 cockatiels but only one lasted for a great length of time. Boy was that bird mean. I didn't shed a tear when we gave him away. That sounds so wrong because I cried like a baby for days after we gave away Princess.

When we got to Las Vegas I was determined to get chickens (chickens are a pet...right?), which we did but ended up giving to a chicken farm when we went on holiday this summer. I had the option of getting them back but never took the initiative. First there was the ant issue, then there was my laziness and now...well I just don't know. I have the interest in getting more chickens but I'm not so sure how well they realistically work with our family. They make going on holiday very complicated. And we do like our holidays. I cant just call up the local chicken spa and make a reservation. Chicken spa...that's funny. I have made it my goal to keep my social life simple so I don't have a network of people close by that can stop by twice a day to care for them either. Yeah currently chickens are just not something that is going to work. I feel bad about that. I made the investment and then feel like I gave up. I guess we all have to learn some things the hard way. Its not the city but our way of life.

So here's where the "OMG what have you done" comes in. This weekend we purchased a miniature dapple dachshund. He is so sweet and we all adore him. J was on the fence about getting a cat and is NOT a dog person (well not a big dog person). That said he is the one that continued to mention the puppies that one of his co-works had. He mentioned them, and mentioned them, and mentioned them again until I finally asked for pictures. The pictures were adorable and I was pretty much sold. J seemed on board for the most part and the kids were totally for it. I picked up a few things Thursday so that Saturday we could pick up our new addition. When the decision was made, it was made.

We named him S'mores.

He is a great puppy. He is fitting in well. The boys are learning how to interact with him. Believe it or not Animal is more stand offish than Q-tip is. Q-tip wants to hold him, cuddle him and if I let him would probably even sleep with him. S'mores is not allowed upstairs. He wants to walk him but currently S'mores is not use to a leash and would rather be carried.

He cuddles with me constantly and follows me around. He is adjusting well to his crate and has only had a couple accidents. He is eating well now that I am adding water to soften his food. I am feeding him Wellness puppy chow. He has taken a bath and is slowly getting familiar with our house. I don't know what we did without him.