We haven’t had a dog for about 4 years. We love animals, but they are so much work! It’s hard to be free-spirited and travel when you have animals to think about. The backyard has to constantly be picked up. They have to be fed and cleaned and walked. When we had our last dog, Buster (in Alaska) the kids were still pretty young and the bulk of the work fell on me and Andy. So, after finding him a good home, we’ve been dog-less for quite some time.
My friend asked us to dog sit for her while she was on vacation these past couple of weeks. What a perfect trial run at owning a dog again!
The kids had a blast with Gunner. They kept him well fed, walked him, and even cleaned up the backyard. He slept near their beds (he took turns in all 3 bedrooms).
He is SUCH a good dog. I didn’t notice any shedding. He only gave one bark to come inside or one when someone came to the door. He never jumped on any of us. He didn’t chew on anything or dig holes. He didn’t run away. He didn’t go to the bathroom in the house. I have absolutely no complaints.
The kids were so sad to see him go. Thankfully, he only lives a few streets away and they can visit him anytime they want!
I think the fact that he was SUCH a good dog was not to my advantage. It was misleading and now my kids think that owning a dog is easy.
I am convinced that if we got a dog again, it would be MUCH more work than this. I think we’ll stick to dogsitting for a while.
