I can't believe all the changes happening in our house. In about 5 weeks we will have gone from a 3 dog household to a 1 dog household. I'm not sure how to feel about it, honestly. Part of me is greatly relieved. The other part is dreading it. No worries, Eva is doing well for Eva at this point in time. Comet has been recalled! Well, in a couple more weeks we'll be taking her down. We were given the option of the end of June/early July or September. Out of convenience for me, I chose the end of June/early July. I think Ally and I will take her down on July 1. Then I'll really come home to a quiet house!
I can't even tell you how hard it is to not be filling the empty spot in our house. There's no little dancing dog or the annoying barking or clicking of nails (I could never get hers short enough for them to not click for more then a day or two!) and the house seems so quiet. I see ads for puppies, I know there is a litter on the way I could raise a puppy from, I see ads for free dogs who need a home, etc. and it breaks my heart to not get one. On the other hand, I have this little human in my who kicks my ribs and makes it hard to walk some days and I can't imagine potty training a new puppy now or after Carter gets here.
As for the future for our household for dogs, we'll see what happens. Max doesn't want to raise for awhile but Ally and I might co-raise a puppy next year sometime. That or Max is open to fostering for CAST, dogs that are in advanced training and need a break from the kennels or dogs waiting for placement as service dogs or pets or any other reason. I have to remind myself that even though I'm going to be staying at home with our little boy, that I have no idea what I'm in for. I have no idea what to expect and how my life is going to change.
My fear is that once Eva dies (I'm not making any more predictions on that one! This dog could live until she's 30 and it wouldn't surprise me at this point!) we will run out and grab the first puppy we see to fill the quiet and it's not a good fit for our family. I want to do things right the next time we get a pet dog, I want to know that the dog will be a good match for us and that we will be a good match for him. Who knows, maybe I'll put some bugs in some ears of people who know us and what kind of dog would fit our family and keep an eye out for us. All I know is that, for the time being, I have to remind myself that what is best for our family right now is to keep things as simple as possible as we adjust to parenthood and lets face it, Eva is an easy dog to live with, especially without a puppy in the house. All she does is eat, drink, pee and sleep! My husband, on the other hand, sometimes does something without thinking about it so I can't guarantee that I won't have a post in the future at some point introducing you to a new doggy for us! ;-)
I don't know about you, but I don't deal well with sleep deprivation and that was my least favorite thing about having a newborn. The rest were years of wonder and I don't think we got dogs until my oldest was in middle school - too much to do. You probably won't wait that long, but you'll be surprised how absorbed you'll be in Carter, especially the first 3 years when SO much happens developmentally. You're smart to keep it simple.
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