Dog Sitting!

Hello, friends!

So, if you know anything about me, you know that I'm a pretty competitive guy, which means that I'm looking for competition wherever I can find it. One of the ways that manifests itself is that I love to make little challenges or side bets in conversation. Usually, it doesn't come to anything but sometimes it backfires spectacularly.

A few years back, Megan and I were talking and she mentioned that she wanted a dog at some point. This is no secret as she grew up with dogs and she's always made it known that she wanted a dog. It's probably a conversation that we'd had before and would have again. But for some reason, my competitive nature kicked in and I decided that I'd offer a challenge. 

"We'll get a dog as soon as we also get a tortoise." 

The gamble was simple. There's no way that Megan would want a tortoise (even though tortoises are the best) so she'd say "no" and then we'd be good to go until the next time it came up in conversation. 

But then came the blockbuster... 

"Deal." 

I guess we're getting a dog then! =0). 

Seriously though, I have no problem getting a dog (plus I'm getting a tortoise now!). Megan and the kids are convinced that I don't like dogs but that's not actually true. The only reason they think I don't like dogs is because I don't like dogs as much as THEY like dogs. But dogs are cool with me. 

We got a little bit of a taste of what it'll be like to have a dog in the house this past week. My in-laws are on a cruise right now and left their chocolate lab with us. Gracie has been to our house lots of times before but never for this long and never without Jean and Dave also there, so we knew this was going to be a new experience for all of us. 

Honestly, it was perfectly fine. I was a little worried that the novelty of caring for a dog would wear off on the kids but it's the end of the week and they're still clamoring for turns feeding Gracie, giving her a bone, and cleaning up her poop in the yard. Gracie is a pretty chill dog too, which helps. She's been spending most of the day just chilling at the house and she goes to bed early. Gracie and I have even gotten some bonding time early in the morning when I feed her before everyone else is up. Overall, it's been a perfectly fine experience. 

The current timeline is that we'll get a dog (and tortoise!) sometime in the next 18 months or so. We wanted to wait until JoJo was in the kindergarten range and big enough to help with the dog care. We know it'll need to be a hypoallergenic dog since we're pretty sure JoJo (and maybe Ezra too) have allergies. But, we're making our way in that direction. And I'm cool with that... so long as we get that tortoise too. 

Have an excellent day! 

~Adam