Last year I had a hair-brained idea that we’d get a dog. I had dogs growing up and I remember that I loved them. However, Jen and I had always agreed that we weren’t dog people. We never wanted to have to worry about them.

The first part of last year, I thought that a dog would be good for the family. I liked the idea of a dog that was smart that we could teach tricks to and would be a good watchdog for our home. After much research, we decided that a heeler was the way to go.

We found a heeler mix last summer and found a trainer to work with us. Paid for a lifetime of training. After about two months, he ate a sharp piece of bone and died in his sleep. You can imagine that the kids were very sad. They had grown to love Boone.

We decided to try again and, this time, we got a purebred heeler from our trainer (who bred them as well). We decided to give him the same name of Boone.

At first, we were great. We worked with him every day. But, because we aren’t really dog people, our enthusiasm faded. We were expecting that our children would play with him, take him for walks and want to play fetch with him. After all, I remembered growing up that I’d play with the dog in the yard a lot.

Well, it didn’t work out and now Boone has a new home with someone that can take him to work with him every day. He can spend the time training him that he needs.

Boone was a great dog for dog people. He learned fast and was obedient when we were consistent. In fact, when the kids would go outside, he wouldn’t greet them, he would go to a spot under the trampoline to stand guard, But, the kids avoided him. It was too bad.

I wasn’t surprised, however, that they cried when we said he was going to get a new home. It took us a few weeks to find him a good home. The day I took him to his new home, he left a few hours after we had, at first, expected.

To give you an idea of how even our children really aren’t dog people — when I hollered, “I’m taking Boone to his new owner, anyone want to say goodbye?” the response was, “We already said goodbye.” Then they continued what they were doing.

I realized that our children liked the idea of having a dog but never really liked having a dog.

The experience cost us a lot of money, time, headache and effort. But, it was worth it.

Now we know. Dog people are born. They are not made.

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.