A Dog for a Day

Actually, it was a week...

My husband found an add on Craig's List from a family needing someone to watch their 5 month old lab mix for a week while they were at a family camp in the mountains. He's been wanting to get a dog so I agreed that this was the perfect opportunity for everyone in the house to try one out and get paid a bit to do it.

Maile (the dog) arrived a week ago Saturday. Our oldest son was terrified of the dog at first but we were able to get him used to her eventually. Our 6 year old absolutely loved her every second (except once when she accidentally scratched his cheek). It was so wonderful to see his confidence and ability with her. He's usually painfully shy and quiet. But with the dog, he was able to raise his voice loud enough to give her commands. He felt especially proud to be able to walk her. Our daughter loved the dog too. I got up and ran with her every morning but twice to get her hyperactivity under control for the rest of the day. My husband walked her the other 2 days. I made sure he knew before we took the dog that it'd be his job to clean up poop too. I've done enough diapers in my life...I'm not adding dog poop scooping to the list.




So, in conclusion, my husband says it was nice to have someone pay us to figure out he doesn't really want a dog. He's mentioned before he wanted one so that he could have "someone" obey what he says. He found out that a dog is a lot like a kid...they don't obey if they don't want to. But, it was SOOOOOO good for our 6 year old to have abilities and confidence in something his older brother doesn't. It made him feel so great. The only reason we'd go to the work of getting a dog (because they really are like adding another child to your family as far as work goes) would be for our son and his development and happiness. Tough choice. Spencer was soooo sad to see the dog go on Friday. Maybe this year in school will do the trick in bringing him out of his shell instead of getting a dog. We'll see.