A few weeks ago we offered, no wait, Chris offered to watch a co-workers dog while he and his family went on vacation. No big deal. It would fun watching a puppy for a few days even a week if needed. I knew the kids would love it. The stakes were high but I was willing to take the chance that maybe the dog would win over Chris' reluctance to ever getting a dog. We were all game.
Jax, a.k.a. "Marley" arrived on Wednesday evening full of excitement and eager to meet us. In fact he was so excited it took several minutes to calm him down long enough just to get him in the house. oh this will be fun I convincingly thought to myself. I can do this. It's only a week. Later that evening Chris informed me that it was going to be a few days longer than a week. But by then the family had left and so any chance of pulling out of the offer was no longer a possibility.
I had dogs growing up and I think I have a very realistic idea of what is means to have a dog. And it's because of this realistic view point that we are still not dog owners. So I knew Jax would be a lot of work. I just didn't know I would be watching a a highly strung, boisterous, and somewhat uncontrolled puppy. Who was strong, powerful, endlessly hungry, eager to be active, and often destructive of our property and pooped several big poops a day. Yuck! Jax was a handful. Below is just a sampling of the things his pearly whites got a hold of.
It really didn't matter what the material. Plastic was one of Jax's favorites. He ate several Capri Sun pouches and chewed on his food dishes.
I think we said "drop it" at least 1,000 times if not more. One of the more disgusting items he got a hold of was a dead bird which he would not release from his mouth. I tried unsuccessfully several times trying to remove the decaying corps but all I ended up with was a napkin full of feathers and two skinny bird legs that I had ripped from the poor animals body. I eventually gave up and sent him the backyard to dispose of it how ever he pleased. A few minutes later he released the bird probably deciding it was too gross even for a dog to eat something infested with maggots.
I had more than a few moments of wanting to hate the dog but the thing is I could never hate him because he was completely without malice and he would give you the "but I'm so adorable look". You dog owners know the look. It's the reason we love them in spite of their naughtiness.
One day I asked Jack if he liked the dog and he said, "No. I no like the dog." I can't really blame him after all he did destroy quite a few of his toys and racked havoc in his territory.
It didn't take long for Thomas to realize just how much work it is to have a dog. His tolerance for Jax ran thin at times. (He is his father's son after all.) I'm pretty confident he will not be the one begging for a dog any time soon if ever.
Chris feels the same as he did before we watched the dog which is, it's nice to have neighbors with well behaved dogs that we can occasionally pet and say hello to.
As for myself I may get talked into getting a dog eventually, but I'm pretty sure it won't be a puppy!
Kate on the other hand loved every minute of it. Which is not surprising since she is the one that constantly wants to have the "when are we going to get a dog" conversation. But after our little test drive of having a dog my usually response of "one day we'll get a dog" has quickly change to "MAYBE one day we'll get a dog."
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