Some of you might know that two month back I had a bug up my butt to get a dog. Melinda wasn’t to keen on the idea but didn’t say no and she let me make the decision. Looking back I don’t think I fully thought the process through and at the time I don’t think I fully understood how much responsibility it is to own a dog.
I thought owning a dog meant all you needed to do was feed him and walk him. I knew you needed to house train a puppy and work on commands like sit and stay but I didn’t realize the amount of work that needed to go into these processes. Owning a dog it like having another baby/kid. They need to be fed and let out to go to the bathroom 20 times or more when they are puppies so they don’t have an accident in the house. Sam is a pretty quick learner and for the most part does well will going to the bathroom outside. Yes we have hada few accidents but most of them are because we weren’t paying attention to him when he needed to go outside.
One of our biggest problems is being able to go when we want. We no longer can wake up on a Saturday morning and on a whim take a day trip to the beach. We now need to worry about what to do with Sam for the day. Also, leaving the house for any more then three to four hours at a time is extremely stressful. Sam get seperation anxiety and bites on the cage to try to get out. He bites at the cage so much he soakes his bed and crate with he spit and also soaks the rug. One time we left him and he chewed on the crate so much he broke two baby teeth (new teeth have since grown in).
Last night Melinda and I were so stressed about Sam I actually put an ad on Craigslist hoping to find a good home for him. After Melinda and I discussed it we have decided to keep Sam and do what a dog owner needs to do and that is love and protect Sam no matter how inconvenient. I called kennels today to get overnight boarding fees and we have found a few place so that makes up feel a little better because if we want to go away over night we now have a place to take Sam.
Owning a dog is a ton of work but after talking through all of the good and bad we decided there was no way we could get rid of Sam. Melinda was crying at the thought of us finding him a new home and I wasn’t exactly happy about it either.
I love Samson Sir Doofus Shire so much and the though of rehoming him will never happy again.
