It's a Dog's Life

When I was a child, we had animals all the time. When I was very young, we always had a dog. First was Muffin. Then there was Duffy.

As I was getting older we lived next to the foothills in Southern California. When we first moved in to that house, the neighbor's father was a wild animal trainer and had used our back yard (we lived on an acre) as a storage spot. For the first few months we lived there we had a giraffe and a few donkeys.

As we started to make the home our own and got rid of the wild animals, we started to get our own animals. In fact, at one point we had two dogs, a cat, a bunch of rabbits, a horse, four ponies, two birds and a sheep named boots.

As I got older, I didn't appreciate animals quite as much. It all worked out pretty well because Jen didn't really want animals in the home either.

About two years ago, the conversation changed from, "We're never getting pets" to "If we ever get pets"

About a year ago, we got Fluffy the hamster. That has been less than a stellar decision. The kids don't really like to play with her and she stinks. 

A few months ago we got new neighbors who have three dogs. After seeing the way our kids love them, I decided it was time to just get a dog on our own. Jen took a little longer to finally agree that we should consider it. 

Well, now, Boone is part of our family, but the kids don't even know yet. They are out of town this week but come home on Friday and will have a great surprise waiting for them.

I just hope that Jen and I can overcome our dislike for animals. 

Boone is already a good dog and I have been pleased. I think we can get along just fine. He is pretty mellow for a puppy and only seems to complain when he wants to play. He can't seem to figure out how to throw a ball to himself... that's the first order of training.