Can I Have a Puppy?

Yes, it all started back when my daughter was 6 years old and asked for a fish. Thinking it was a good idea to introduce some responsiblity we decided to go for it. So we headed out to the pet store in search of the perfect fish. Later that afternoon we brought home Wiggles, a beautiful French tailed goldfish. We set up the fish bowl with the needed decorations and each day we watched Wiggles swim around her fish bowl for hours. At feeding time she would swim to the top of the bowl and kiss my daughter's finger. It was soooo cute. Well, it did not teach my daughter too much responsibility because mom and dad cleaned the bowl and daughter had to be constantly reminded to feed the fish.

Oh, and how long do goldfish live? Well, Wiggles lived for 4 years. Much longer than we had expected, but nonetheless, we all cried when she died and buried her in the backyard near the shed. A month after Wiggles died, my daughter knew this was the right time to ask for another pet. This time a hamster! I convinced my husband that a hamster would teach her more responsibilty because she could actually handle cleaning the cage and that it was more interesting playing with a hamster than watching a fish swim around for hours.

Well, luck had it that someone in the area was looking for a good home for her male hamster and I gave her a call. This woman had a house full of animals, cats, a dog, 2 goats, some birds and 2 hamsters. It turns out she bred the hamsters to make some money, but no longer wanted to do this, so we brought home Onyx that evening. Onyx was loveable and cuddly black bear hamster and we fell instantly in love. The woman loaned us the cage until we were able to get one. Again as luck had it, a neighbor was getting rid of her hamster supplies and we were happy to take it off her hands. So again mom and dad were in charge of cleaing the cage while daughter had to be constantly reminded to give it food and fresh water everyday. But daughter, and mom and dad, enjoyed cuddling and playing with Onyx in the evenings, because all he did during the day was sleep!

Unfortunately, we had Onyx for only 7 months before he died. I stayed with him and kept him warm until he took his last breath.We buried him next to the goldfish. Well, again my daughter knew the time was right and asked for another hamster. So this time we went to the pet store for another black bear which she ended up calling, Selevster.

Selvester was very different than Onyx. He was very young and very energetic. When we put him in his cage he jumped on his wheel and traveled for hours. He was a bit nippy at first so every evening I would put my hand in his cage so he would sniff my fingers and learn my scent and I would then pet him. He learned not to bite rather quickly, but he was still very quick so we had to careful with him in the evenings when we took him out of his cage when he was most energetic. We then placed him in a special hamster ball where he could travel all over the house without getting into trouble. Oh, by the way, we potty trained our hamsters! While they would pee in the potty, they would still poop all over the cage, but that wasn't too bad, because we could go a week before we had to clean the cage.

Now two years later Selvester was getting older. He was getting heavier, he wasn't as energetic as he once was, his fur was graying and his paws were becoming wrinkly. My daughter now asks, "Can I have a puppy?" with all the same promises attached.... "I'll feed it, take it for walks, play with it, etc..."

This was an extremely hard one. Number one, my husband has allergies. Number two, a dog is an enormous responsibility. I tried to persuade my husband that a dog is just what an only child needs. We discussed this one over and over and I did a lot of research to find the right breed and the right breeder. In the meantime, my daughter was getting older and did not need me as much as she used to. I wasn't as much a part of her life as I used to be , so I really needed this dog too. My husband agreed.

The dog breed we decided on from my months of research was the "miniature Schoodle" which is a cross between a mini schnauzer and a mini poodle.. Neither breed sheds and many consider them hypoallergenic, though many will say there is no such thing as a hypoallergenic animal.The one breeder I had in mind lives 3 hours north of us in Honesdale, PA. She had the cutest pups and takes precautions to make sure that her pups go to the right home. The only problem was when we ready to adopt one of her puppies her dogs were not having any pups. I tried sending her emails and she would not respond. That is not a good sign!

That's ok, because I had another breeder in mind who lived 3 hours south of us in Maryland. And guess what? She had a pick of at least 10 pups! But only 2 out the 10 were female, which is what we wanted. So after plopping down our $100 deposit we had to wait a few more weeks until she was old enough before we could bring our precious pup home.

So that is how we became a dog owner. Next time I'll fill you in on what it takes to prepare to bring home a puppy!

Lara